Gorton v. Brown
Illinois Supreme Court
This was an action of trespass on the case, commenced by the appellee, Brown, against the appellant, Gorton, in the Circuit Court of Lake county, from which the venue was changed to Cook.
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This was an action of trespass on the case, commenced by the appellee, Brown, against the appellant, Gorton, in the Circuit Court of Lake county, from which the venue was changed to Cook. The declaration charges, that the appellant, on the 30th day of October, 1854, falsely, maliciously, and without any reasonable or probable cause whatsoever, filed his bill of complaint on the chancery side of the Lake Circuit Court, and at the same time falsely, maliciously, and without any reasonable or probable cause whatever, caused to be issued out of, and under the seal of said court upon said bill,…
1Opinion of the CourtBreese, J.
Preliminary to all other questions presented by this record, is the question, can this action be maintained ? We have searched the precedents and books of pleadings from the earliest times to the present, and find but one case where it has been held, that an action can be maintained for maliciously suing out a writ of injunction. We are well aware that elementary writers and respectable courts have held that an action on the case will lie for an abuse of the process of the courts, where special damages are alleged, and against a party for prosecuting a causeless action prompted by malice, by…
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