Legal Memorandum: Tortious Interference with Business Relations

Issue: What are the elements of a claim for tortious interference with business relations under Georgia law?

           “A cause of action of tortious interference with business relations encompasses interference with a prospective business relationship as well as existing ones, and liability results not only from disruption of the relationship but also from elimination of the injured party’s ability to perform.”  Renden, Inc. v. Liberty Real Estate Ltd. Partnership III, 213 Ga. App. 333, 444 S.E.2d 814, 817 (1994); see Perry & Co. v. New South Ins. Brokers of Georgia, Inc., 182 Ga. App. 84, 354 S.E.2d 852, 857 (1987).

The Restatement (Second) of Torts clearly recognizes this alternative to direct inducement:

One who intentionally and improperly interferes with another’s prospective contractual relation (except a contract to marry) is subject to liability to the other for the pecuniary harm resulting from loss of the benefits of the relation, whether the interference consists of

 (a) inducing or otherwise causing a third person not to enter into or continue the prospective relation or

 (b) preventing the other from acquiring or continuing the prospective relation.

Restatement (Second) Torts § […]