Abuse of process; malicious prosecution
A debtor sued me for fraud because I sent him a demand letter. I can easily disprove the fraud allegation.
His complaint contains a few other allegations that are demonstrably false. One allegation is legally impossible under the terms of the contract. In another he alleges that I stated in writing that his debt, which is evidenced by a promissory note, has been satisfied in full. He has been unable to produce this document.
His attorney may have filed the complaint and done a certain amount of work subsequent to that without ever reading the underlying contract or seeing any evidence. However, he knew no later than the date he received a copy of my case management statement that his client's fraud allegation was demonstrably false. By now he probably realizes that some of the other allegations contained in the complaint are false.
I respect the debtor's right to seek judicial resolution of our dispute. However, he and his attorney have gone out of their way to obstruct a resolution and abuse the legal process. For example:
- He refused to respond to my initial request for production of documents. I had to follow up 3 times and still did not obtain an adequate response.
- He filed a protective order in order to avoid having to respond to my special interrogatories. I wouldn't have even bothered with rogs if he had responded to the Request for Production. He withdrew his motion for a protective order before the hearing.
- He propounded over 100 rogs, more than half of which were not applicable to this case.
- He already had all of the documents he requested in his Request for Production of Documents.
I have had to spend a lot of time on this that I would not have had to spend had the debtor and his attorney done what is necessary--and only what is necessary--to resolve our dispute.
