"This case stems from a family dispute over the probate of the estate of Mohammed Hussain (decedent). After decedent passed away, one of his sons, Asif "Robert" Hussain (Asif) took a document purporting to be decedent's will and instructed one of his friends to sign and backdate the witness attestation clause so he could probate the will. The will named Asif the executor of decedent's estate and distributed most of the estate to Asif. Decedent's other heirs contested Asif's petition to probate the will. Asif subsequently conceded that the will was invalid and abandoned his probate petition.
Decedent's other heirs then filed suit against Asif for malicious prosecution of the probate action. In response, Asif filed a special motion to strike the malicious prosecution claim under our anti-SLAPP statute. (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16.) The trial court denied the motion. Asif now appeals, arguing the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence that he acted without probable cause and with malice in filing the probate petition. We disagree and affirm the trial court's ruling."
The declaration submitted by the aggrieved litigant:
"Asif submitted a declaration in support of his motion attesting to the following facts. In 2022, decedent told Asif that he intended to distribute his home in Granada Hills to Asif and Seletskiy, with 60 percent going to Asif and the remainder to Seletskiy. Decedent also indicated that he prepared a will and instructed Asif to sign it. In December 2022, decedent gave Asif the combination to a safe and told him to retrieve the documents stored there in the event of his death. After decedent's passing, Asif opened the safe and retrieved a will. He then took that will to a non-attorney "probate specialist," Cheryl Templeton (Templeton). Templeton told him that "in order to submit the [w]ill to [p]robate it needed to be fully signed and dated by two witnesses who knew [decedent]."
Having been told that the will was defective because it was not signed by two witnesses, Asif concluded that "all [he] needed to do to submit the [w]ill to [p]robate was to get another signature on the [w]ill from a person who knew [decedent]." He went to Gorgone and asked her to sign the witness attestation clause and backdate her signature to July 2022. He then took the signed will to a probate attorney and directed his new counsel to file the probate petition. At some unspecified time after filing the petition, Asif "became aware" that Gorgone's signature was invalid because she did not witness decedent sign the will as she had attested to. Once he learned this information, he instructed his counsel to dismiss the probate petition. Asif claims he did not intend to deceive any of the plaintiffs and would not have submitted the will to probate court if he had known that Gorgone's signature was defective."
Hussain et al. v. Hussain et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court case no. 24VECV04712.
