California Physicians' Service v. Superior Court

Opinion

FROEHLICH, J.

The petitioner, California Physicians’ Service, doing business as Blue Shield of California (Blue Shield), seeks extraordinary review of the superior court’s overruling of its demurrer to the plaintiffs’ supplemental complaint. The supplemental complaint attempts to state a cause of action in tort for the filing of bad faith or malicious defensive pleadings. The filing of defensive pleadings is clearly a privileged communication which cannot be the basis for a retaliatory action in tort. The superior court was under an obligation to terminate this spurious cause of action.…