IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY CIVIL DIVISION CASE NO.: 502009CA040800 AG JEFFREY EPSTEIN, rni= 7:JC:0-1 nrn a> X Plaintiff(s), VS. 7 4 c, SCOTT ROTHSTEIN, etc., et al., n Defendant(s). c r— a -ii I - ••••;_cfc-1 m a ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO DISMISS COUNTERCLAIM OF DEFENDANT THIS CAUSE came before the Court upon the Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss the Counterclaim of the Defendant, J. The Court heard argument of counsel and has reviewed the authorities they have cited, and is otherwise fully advised in the premises. First, as to Count I, the claim for abuse of process, the Court finds that there are sufficient allegations in the Complaint to establish an ulterior purpose or motive. Furthermore, the allegations are that each and every act in the prosecution of the case in chief have been for an ulterior purpose or motive. Such Counterclaims are no longer barred in Florida. See e.g., Blue u. Weinstein, 381 So.2d 308 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1980). In regard to the malicious prosecution claim, this Court recognizes that, in general, a Counterclaim for malicious prosecution cannot arise out of the allegations contained in the Complaint. Therefore, in general, a claim for malicious prosecution arising out of dismissed counts of a Complaint is improper as long as the Complaint is still pending. However, the Court finds that the circumstances in the present matter are distinguishable from the cases cited by the Plaintiff. In this case, a voluntary dismissal of those claims was filed by the Plaintiff. Therefore, we are not faced with a situation where EFTA02770789