Let's say that a business owner A maliciously sues a competing business owner B alleging that business owner B has stolen trade secrets that contained information about business owner A's customers and that business owner B has unfairly solicited them over from business owner A. Of course, this is not true as none of the customers were actually solicited over, but business owner A still asks for monetary damages.
Meanwhile, because of this malicious lawsuit, business owner B is unable to sell his business to potential buyers at full price because this is a wildcard for new buyers as they don't know what will happen next as they don't have all the facts.
- Has there been precedent in California where such plaintiffs have been successfully countersued for lost business sale value because of a malicious lawsuit that did cast doubt about customer ownership?
- If yes, then what keywords should I search for on an internet docket like docketalarm to find such lawsuits? Is this possibly "slander of title"?
