Taylor v. Greiner

• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: HILL; All the Justices concur, except SMITH
• Citation: Taylor v. Greiner, 277 S.E.2d 13, 247 Ga. 526 (Ga. 1981)
• Decision Date: 15 April 1981
• Docket Number: Nos. 37141,37148,s. 37141
• Parties: Richard F. TAYLOR v. Fred L. GREINER et al. Fred L. GREINER et al. v. Richard F. TAYLOR.

Page 13

277 S.E.2d 13

247 Ga. 526

Richard F. TAYLOR v. Fred L. GREINER et al.

Fred L. GREINER et al. v. Richard F. TAYLOR.

Nos. 37141, 37148.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

April 15, 1981.

Rehearing Denied April 28, 1981.

James S. Owens, Jr., Robert L. Goldstucker, Ross Arnold, Atlanta, for Richard F. Taylor.

Morton P. Levine, Stephen H. Block, Atlanta, for Fred L. Greiner et al.

HILL, Presiding Justice.

This case is here on certiorari. Taylor v. Greiner, 156 Ga.App. 663, 275 S.E.2d 737 (1980). The facts were succinctly stated in the Court of Appeals' opinion and are repeated here for convenient reference.

"In their suit below, the appellees Greiner and Giddings alleged that the defendant had maliciously and with ulterior motive instigated investigative and disciplinary proceedings against them by the State Board of Medical Examiners. They contend that the defendant Taylor, an attorney, demanded a settlement for his client in the form of a debt forgiveness from Greiner, a physician, and Giddings, the social work counselor to whom Dr. Greiner had referred Taylor's client; and further, that in the settlement demand letter Taylor threatened to instigate investigatory and disciplinary proceedings against both Giddings and Greiner if they refused to mark the bill satisfied in full and return to Taylor's client an amount she had already paid. The letter written by Taylor to Greiner and Giddings questioned the legal authority and medical ethic by which Mr. Giddings with a master's degree in social work could hold himself out as offering medical services of any kind, 'and particularly in consort with a medical doctor.' The letter continued 'I assure you that a complete investigation of this affair will be made through the State Medical Board, Investigative Bureau, etc. unless you can show me by what license this treatment and billing procedure is authorized by law. As an alternative, I am authorized by (my client) to drop the entire matter provided the current billing of $570.00 is dismissed, marked satisfied in full, and a return of the $256.00 is made so she may reimburse Blue Shield.'

"This letter was written April 10, 1975. The plaintiffs allege that in January, 1976 the defendant Taylor furnished certain information to the Georgia Composite State Board of Medical Examiners and requested an investigation which resulted in disciplinary proceedings being filed against the plaintiffs (on January 22, 1976); but on May 6, 1976, these proceedings were dismissed by the Board of Medical Examiners. The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit below on May 1, 1978. The defendant Taylor moved for summary judgment and was denied the grant." (Matter in brackets added.) In support of his motion, the defendant had offered the plaintiffs' depositions which showed that they had incurred no special damages other than the defense of the proceeding before the Board of Medical Examiners.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of defendant's motion for summary judgment, holding that (1) the statute of limitations had run on any cause of action for malicious abuse of process; (2) no cause of action for malicious use of process could be maintained because plaintiffs did not show any special damages; ¹ but (3) the complaint did state a cause of action for malicious interference with property, special damages not being an essential element of such a claim.

We granted cross petitions for writ of certiorari as to the second and third holdings stated above.

1. The first issue is whether the law requires that special damages be proven in order to establish a cause of action for malicious use of process and whether the cost of defending the litigation constitutes such special damage. The Court of Appeals correctly stated the Georgia law in this regard, holding that a cause of action for malicious use of process will not lie absent a showing that the defendant was arrested, or his property attached, or he suffered some other special damage by reason of the serving out of the process, Mitchell v. Southwestern Railroad, 75 Ga. 398(3) (1885); Jacksonville Paper Co. v. Owen, 193 Ga. 23, 17 S.E.2d 76 (1941); and that the expenses of defending the suit are not special damages within this rule. Jacksonville Paper Co. v. Owen, supra; Rivers v. Dixie Broadcasting Corp., 209 Ga. 98, 108, 70 S.E.2d 734 (1952); 1 EGL Abuse of Process, Malicious Prosecution and False Imprisonment, §§ 19, 20 (1977 Rev.); see 52 Am.Jur.2d, Malicious Prosecution, §§ 10, 11. ² We reaffirm this rule and decline to hold that the expense of defending a disciplinary...