StaffPro, Inc. v. Elite Show Services, Inc., 136 Cal. App. 4th 1392 (2006)

StaffPro initiated this malicious prosecution action against Elite Show Services, one of its competitors in the eventstaffing industry. Previously, Elite had sued StaffPro for unfair business practices that were allegedly designed to “artificially lower [StaffPro’s] cost of labor and to diminish or destroy competition for security guard and traffic control services in San Diego.” In the underlying lawsuit, Elite alleged that StaffPro used unlicensed personnel to perform security officer functions, allowed unlicensed employees to direct traffic at events, and staffed events with “group labor” paid by lump-sum payments to third party organizations without making the required tax withholdings. At trial, Elite prevailed on some of its claims and succeeded in compelling StaffPro to ensure that workers’ compensation coverage was extended to its “group labor” and to utilize licensed personnel for certain security activities, among other things. In response to StaffPro’s malicious prosecution lawsuit, the trial court granted Elite’s motion to strike on the ground that there had not been a termination of the underlying lawsuit entirely in StaffPro’s favor. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment.