M.F. Cooper

Following the dismissal of the defendants' motion for partial summary judgment, the successful plaintiff sought costs on a substantial indemnity basis, relying on a Rule 49 offer to settle.

The court declined to award elevated costs due to the plaintiff's prior misconduct involving a purported wire transfer that was never actually sent.

Applying the principles of proportionality and reasonableness, the court fixed costs at $30,000 on a partial indemnity basis, payable to the plaintiff in any event of the cause.

The Grad defendants brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiff's claims of malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and false imprisonment against them.

The claims arose after the Grad defendants reported the plaintiff to the police over a contract dispute, leading to criminal charges that were later withdrawn.

The court dismissed the summary judgment motion, finding that a full trial was necessary to assess the defendants' motives and to avoid the risk of duplicative proceedings or inconsistent findings of fact, as the claims against the co-defendant police officers would proceed to trial in any event.