Maleti

I. INTRODUCTION

At the time of his death in November 2013, Andrew Farkas (Farkas) owned Santa Cruz County property, Parcel 5 and Parcel 18. His widow, Collette McLaughlin (McLaughlin), brought a probate petition to establish and enforce an access easement benefiting that property. In the first amended petition, McLaughlin named several neighboring landowners in the petition. She later added Sal Maleti (Maleti) and his corporation, the Sal Maleti Corporation (Maleti Corp.), as respondents. Maleti Corp. had owned Parcel 18 and neighboring property many years earlier. Maleti Corp. sold Parcel 18 to Farkas in 1993; after 2000, the corporation owned no property in the vicinity of the Farkas property. McLaughlin asserted nine claims against Maleti and Maleti Corp. (hereafter, collectively, the Maleti Respondents). Each of the nine claims was disposed of in favor of the Maleti Respondents: five after McLaughlin failed to amend the probate petition following the sustaining of a demurrer with leave to amend; one after the sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend; and three after the granting of summary judgment. The present lawsuit for malicious prosecution and abuse of…