Abuse of Process

Proving that the prosecution did not have probable cause might be tricky, as it must be shown that it did not have a reasonable belief that the allegations can be proven true. Dan has filed a civil lawsuit against Megacorp, claiming the company stole his research, then fired him. During the course of the lawsuit, Megacorp summons Dan for a deposition. In this example of abuse of process, Megacorp has abused the right to use depositions to gain important information and evidence. Dan may refuse to answer any questions that are improper, though if the corporation does gain information that is not relevant — with an ulterior motive — Dan may have a cause of action to sue the company.

Abuse of Process

In , Jamie and Travis Durham were involved in an accident with an uninsured motorist. Both of them were seriously injured, and relied on their insurance policy, which had uninsured motorist coverage, to pick up the tab for their medical bills.

Almost immediately after the Durhams advised their insurance company, Allstate, that they would be making a claim under that policy, a disagreement began about how much that policy would actually pay. The issue was assigned to arbitration. The malicious subpoenas were, in fact, issued in violation of a protective order that had been issued by the arbitrators. The Durhams claimed that Allstate, through its legal representative, delved into their personal lives for the purpose of destroying their reputations, and to cause them to lose their jobs.

The defendants argued that an abuse of process claim could not be made on a case that had not entered the court system. In this case, arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution, which is heard by private arbitrators, not a judge.

Definition of Process

Applications to stay or dismiss for abuse of process were common in serious fraud cases, which took a long time to investigate and to bring to court. These applications were commonly based on delay and the health of defendants. As a result of this the Fraud Protocol made reference to the procedure for dealing with such an application and indicated that the arguments submitted on both sides must be in writing, rather than oral evidence being called, and that the abuse hearing should be concluded within a day.

Magistrates may be asked to consider an application for abuse of process either at summary trial or when sending or transferring cases to the Crown Court. Magistrates do not have jurisdiction in applications based on an abuse of executive power and these cases should be referred to the Divisional Court.

Where the argument contains elements of abuse of executive power or where it is novel or complex, magistrates' may decline jurisdiction and remit the application to the Divisional Court. A decision in the Crown Court is incapable of judicial review as it is a decision relating to trial on indictment. See Abuse of process procedure. It may take a few minutes to reach its recipient s depending on the size of the document s.

Your document will open in your word processing application. To save or print, please use the options provided under file. Alternatively, send us an email using the feedback icon in the toolbar below. We will let you know when the document is available. Sign up now not now. It is a perversion of lawfully issued process and is different from Malicious Prosecution , a lawsuit started without any reasonable cause.

Examples include serving officially giving a complaint to someone when it has not actually been filed, just to intimidate an enemy, filing a false declaration of service filing a paper untruthfully stating a lie that someone has officially given a notice to another person, filing a lawsuit which has no basis at law, but is intended to get information, force payment through fear of legal entanglement or gain an unfair or illegal advantage.

Abuse of process legal definition of abuse of process

Some people think they are clever by abusing the process this way. A few unscrupulous lawyers do so intentionally and can be subject to discipline and punishment.

Sometimes a lawyer will abuse the process accidentally; an honest one will promptly correct the error and apologize. Abuse of process legal definition of abuse of process https: Abuse of Process The use of legal process to accomplish an unlawful purpose; causing a summons, writ, warrant, mandate, or any other process to issue from a court in order to accomplish some purpose not intended by the law.

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He stayed the indictment against Tran, saying: Judge halts trial after cannabis raid. No plea was entered to allow the defence to consider an application for abuse of process. Man accused of physical assault on boy in