How have courts dealt with claims of abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Slaughter v. Legal Process & Courier Service, 162 Cal.App.3d 1236, 209 Cal.Rptr. 189 (Cal. App. 1984):

In Golden v. Duncan (1971) 20 Cal.App.3d 295, 301-302, 97 Cal.Rptr. 577, plaintiffs had sought damages for abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The act complained of was service of process at midnight in a boisterous manner, at their residence. Concerning the claim of abuse of process, the court stated: "Analysis of the allegations ... indicates that it is the manner of service, not the fact of service itself which is the gravamen of plaintiff's alleged cause of action.... [G]enerally it is only where process is used to obtain a collateral advantage that an action will lie, e.g., seizure of a second lender's collateral in the hands of a debtor in order to coerce the former to pay the debtor's original obligation.... The defendants' satisfaction in the successful accomplishment of their intended vexation, harassment and irritation of plaintiff and his family by the service of process is not the type of collateral advantage which is generally recognized as a purpose for which the process is designed.... Attention must be directed to the manner of service.... If, because of the manner of service, an actionable wrong arose, it must be attributed to the acts and omissions attendant upon the attempted service, and it does not relate to the process itself."

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