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As the initial neighborhood lawsuit made its way through the courts, BK&M filed counterclaim alleging "abuse of process," arguing that the plaintiffs were using the legal system as a way to ...
An abuse of process is the unjustified or unreasonable use of legal proceedings or process to further a cause of action by an applicant or plaintiff in an action. It is a claim made by the respondent or defendant that the other party is misusing or perverting regularly issued court process (civil or criminal) not justified by the underlying legal action.
The term is not defined in statute law, but has been defined in legal cases. One case was Keaveney v.Geraghty, [3] where the plaintiff's libel proceedings were stayed on the grounds that they were, inter alia, frivolous, vexatious, and "an abuse of the process of the Court".
In Queensland, the process for having someone declared a vexatious litigant is governed by the Vexatious Proceedings Act 2005, which supplanted an earlier Act. [5] The Act defines a vexatious proceeding to include a proceeding brought without merit or any prospect of success, with the consequence that it is not necessary to prove the existence of any improper motive in order to obtain relief ...
If the counterclaim is compulsory, it must be brought in the current action or it is waived and lost forever. Various tests have been proposed for when a counterclaim arises from the same transaction or occurrence, including same issues of fact and law, use of the same evidence, and logical relation between the claims. [5]
Malicious prosecution is a common law intentional tort.Like the tort of abuse of process, its elements include (1) intentionally (and maliciously) instituting and pursuing (or causing to be instituted or pursued) a legal action (civil or criminal) that is (2) brought without probable cause and (3) dismissed in favor of the victim of the malicious prosecution.
In a counterclaim from A&E Television Networks and Lifetime Entertainment Services, the companies also allege that Morrissey's lawsuit against them was prompted by the desire to protect her own image.
Frivolous litigation is the use of legal processes with apparent disregard for the merit of one's own arguments. It includes presenting an argument with reason to know that it would certainly fail, or acting without a basic level of diligence in researching the relevant law and facts.