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State A Claim For Tortious Interference With A Prospective Business Advantage Under Maryland Law Essay

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To state a claim for tortious interference with a prospective business advantage under Maryland law, a plaintiff must allege: 1. intentional and willful acts; 2. calculated to cause damage to the plaintiff in her lawful business; 3. done with the unlawful purpose to cause such damage and loss, without right or justifiable cause on the part of the defendants (which constitutes malice); and 4. actual damage and loss resulting. Carter v. Aramark Sports & Entm’t Servs., Inc., 153 Md. App. 210, 240 (2003). Therefore, an essential element of a claim for tortious interference with a prospective business advantage is that the defendant committed the act with an “unlawful purpose which constitutes malice.” Eastside Vend Distribs. v. Coca-Cola, Enters., 2006 Md. Cir. Ct. LEXIS 15, *19 (2006). “Tortious interference with business relationships arises only out of the relationship between three parties, the parties to a contract or other economic relationship . . . and the interferer.” K&K Mgmt, Inc. v. Lee, 316 Md. 137, 154 (1989). A party may maintain an action “upon the doctrine that a man who induces one of two parties to a contract to break it, intending thereby to injure the other or to obtain a benefit for himself, does the other an actionable wrong.” Natural Design, Inc. v. Rouse Co., 302 Md. 47 (1984); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 766. Only parties to the contract or economic relationship have standing to bring a tortious interference claim; third-parties who are

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