Profile Structures, Inc. v. Long Beach Bldg. Material Co

In Profile Structures, Inc. v. Long Beach Bldg. Material Co. (1986) 181 Cal.App.3d 437, the defendant (LBBMC) obtained a temporary protective order under Code of Civil Procedure section 486.010 et seq. in lieu of an ex-parte right-to-attach order. (Profile, at p. 440.) The amount of the protective order was $ 54,704.32. (Ibid.) LBBMC served the temporary protective order on a bank holding funds belonging to the plaintiff (Profile) and on a university with which Profile had a contract. (Ibid.) On the basis of the protective order, the bank and the university withheld from Profile assets totaling $ 78,155.32. (Ibid.) Profile sued LBBMC for abuse of process, alleging that "LBBMC knew, or should have known, that service of the temporary protective order on the bank and the university had no legal effect; such entities were served solely to make them believe that they had a duty to withhold funds of Profile in their hands. LBBMC's ulterior motive in so misusing the temporary protective order was to coerce Profile into paying LBBMC the full amount of the damages sought in its complaint although LBBMC knew that Profile was liable for less than that amount." (Id. at pp. 440-441.) The court rejected Profile's arguments that service of the protective order had no logical relation to the action and was not made to achieve the objects of the litigation. (Profile, supra, 181 Cal.App.3d at pp. 442-443.) It concluded that Profile took too narrow a view of the conditions necessary for application of the privilege. (Id. at p. 442.) The court explained: "The bank and the university held property of Profile described in the order; LBBMC's act of furnishing copies of the order to those entities served the purpose of informing them of the prohibition against Profile's transfer of its property in their hands. Accordingly, it cannot be said that publication of the order to the bank and the university had no logical relation to the action and was not made to achieve the object of preserving Profile's property subject to the order." (Id. at p. 443.)