Feldman v. Green, 138 Mich. App. 360

Summary

The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendants in a tortious-interference action arising from competing offers to purchase nursing homes. The court held that liability requires the intentional commission of a per se wrongful act or a lawful act performed with malice and without legal justification, and that merely making a more attractive offer did not create a genuine issue of material fact.

Holdings

1. A plaintiff alleging tortious interference must allege the intentional doing of a per se wrongful act, or the intentional doing of a lawful act with malice and without legal justification for the purpose of invading the plaintiff's contractual rights or business relationship. In the latter circumstance, the plaintiff must identify specific affirmative acts corroborating the unlawful purpose.
2. Feldman failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact because the record showed that his claim was based solely on defendants' better offer of price and terms, without specific evidence that defendants used unlawful means or acted with an unjustified and malicious purpose.
3. The trial court did not improperly overlook Feldman's alternative theory based on defendants' constructive-trust counterclaim and lis pendens; the record showed that the trial court considered the allegations and found them factually unsupported.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court overlooked a second theory of recovery based on defendants' filing of a constructive-trust counterclaim and lis pendens.
2. Whether a claim for tortious interference with a contractual or business relationship requires proof of illegal or improper conduct, and whether Feldman's evidence raised a genuine issue of material fact under that standard.
3. Whether defendants' act of making a more attractive offer to AMI, without specific evidence of an unlawful purpose or wrongful means, could support liability for tortious interference.

Disposition

affirmed