Sagonowsky

This case arising out of a real estate dispute raises the novel claim of whether an award made in a commercial contractual arbitration can form the basis for a subsequent action for malicious prosecution. We hold in the circumstances presented by this case that it cannot.

In January 1991 plaintiff Christina M. Sagonowsky bought a four-unit apartment in San Francisco. The contract of sale contained a clause providing for commercial arbitration. In April Sagonowsky entered into a tenancy in common agreement with plaintiff Curtis Kekoa, Jr. (her then fiancé), plaintiff Stefan M. Mrozowski (her uncle) and Lynn Searle, who had been a tenant in the building since 1986. Under that agreement Sagonowsky assigned to the other three individuals her rights “as buyer for the purchase of the real estate” “all rights, title, and interest in and to said contract [of sale], and to the real estate.” The tenancy in common agreement also contained an arbitration clause which provided for binding arbitration to be ' had through the American Arbitration Association (AAA) or a like entity of “any dispute regarding this Agreement or the duties, obligations and benefits of ownership in the…