With regard to plaintiff’s claim for abuse of process, FVA has demonstrated prima facie entitlement to summary judgment. In order to prevail on a cause of action a plaintiff must demonstrate that defendant: (1) caused the issuance of regularly issued process either criminal or civil; (2) with the intent to do harm without excuse or justification; (3) that the process was perverted to obtain a collateral advantage; and (4) that the process unlawfully interfered with plaintiff’s person or property. As discussed above, to the extent that plaintiff must prove all elements, a defendant obtains summary judgment if he negates the existence of any one of the elements.
FVA has demonstrated prima facie entitlement to summary judgment insofar as it has demonstrated that the process herein, namely, the reparation action, was not perverted in any way so as to obtain a collateral advantage. The witness establishes that the reparation action was commenced and prosecuted for a legitimate purpose, namely to recover money which GROWERS felt it was entitled to recover insofar as plaintiff had fraudulently obtained the same. To the extent that the purpose of the reparation action was to recover money and the same was GROWERS’s goal, it cannot be said that the process was perverted to obtain a collateral advantage. Based on the foregoing, FVA has demonstrated prima facie entitlement to summary judgment with regard to the abuse of process claim.
FVA has demonstrated prima facie entitlement to summary judgment with regard to plaintiff’s claim asserting fraud. It is worth noting that injury plaintiff never opposes this portion of FVA’s motion and as such, summary judgment is granted on default. Nevertheless it is well settled that a cause of action for fraud or misrepresentation requires proof that defendant misrepresented an existing fact, falsity, scienter, justifiable reliance by the plaintiff and damages. The Court finds that FVA’s evidence demonstrates an absence of misrepresentation, falsity or scienter. As such, FVA has established prima facie entitlement to summary judgment with regard to the cause of action for fraud.