Hewitt v. Rice

Under comment k of Restatement (Second) of Torts section 674 (1977), a plaintiff who brings a malicious prosecution claim is relieved of the burden to show that the proceeding upon which the claim is based was terminated in his favor, if that proceeding was ex parte in nature. The majority's principal holding today finds that Petitioners claim, which is based on the recording of a lis pendens, does not fall within comment k because a lis pendens does not qualify as an ex parte proceeding. Maj. op. at 4183. But the majority's reasoning-that the recording of a lis pendens is not a "proceeding"…