Axline

Appellant, Dr. Stanton G. Axline, sued Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center (the Hospital) when it denied his application to become a member of the medical staff. The Hospital’s demurrer was sustained without leave to amend upon the trial court’s conclusion that Dr. Axline had signed a release that effectively shielded the Hospital from liability; The trial court also concluded that Dr. Axline had failed to plead the elements of the malicious prosecution tort. We conclude the release does not apply to this case. We also conclude that Dr. Axline properly pled a claim for malicious prosecution. We therefore reverse the judgment of dismissal.

Factual and Procedural Summary

On appeal from the sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend, we assume the truth of all properly pleaded allegations in the complaint. {Silberg v. Anderson (1990) 50 Cal.3d 205, 210 [ 266 Cal.Rptr. 638 , 786 P.2d 365 ].) The following summary is taken from the second amended complaint, which is the charging pleading.

Dr. Axline applied to join the Hospital’s medical staff. He was required to sign, and did sign, a release which provides in part: “In filing this application for membership on…