Panoutsopoulos

Plaintiffs Nicholas and Ekaterine Panoutsopoulos, who own and operate a restaurant on property leased from the Karsant Family Limited Partnership (the partnership), filed a complaint against the partnership’s general manager, Peter Karsant. Plaintiffs later filed a petition under Civil Code section 1714.10, seeking leave to pursue causes of action for civil conspiracy between Karsant and his attorneys, Denise Chambliss, Susan Doyle and the Law Offices of Doyle & Associates (the attorneys). The trial court granted the petition, and the attorneys appeal. We reverse.

Background

In 1988, plaintiffs entered into an agreement with George and Mary Karsant, under which plaintiffs agreed to lease a portion of a building for the purpose of installing and operating a restaurant. The lease was for a term of 123 months, with options allowing them to extend the lease for two 60-month periods. George Karsant died in 1993. In 1996, Mary Karsant and her children formed the partnership. Mary Karsant assigned to it her right, title and interest in the leasehold. Mary Karsant managed the partnership until 2002, when her son, Peter Karsant (Karsant), who by then apparently had taken on most…