A wrongful use of civil proceedings case against an attorney has been tossed out after the Superior Court found that the plaintiff did not show that the attorney filed suit for purposes other than pursuing discovery and seeking a judgment.
A divided three-judge panel of the Superior Court ruled October 1 that attorney Walter A. McClatchy, the defendant in Smith v. McClatchy, had probable cause to initiate a collections action against Walter E. Smith, whose ex-wife allegedly owed McClatchy money. Smith had not signed a retainer agreement with McClatchy, but Smith’s ex-wife was paying the attorney fees out of their joint bank account.
