2007 California Code of Civil Procedure Chapter 10. Liability For Wrongful Attachment

CA Codes (ccp:490.010-490.060)

490.010.  A wrongful attachment consists of any of the following:
   (a) The levy under a writ of attachment or the service of a
temporary protective order in an action in which attachment is not
authorized, except that it is not a wrongful attachment if both of
the following are established:
   (1) The levy was not authorized solely because of the prohibition
of subdivision (c) of Section 483.010.
   (2) The person who sold or leased, or licensed for use, the
property, furnished the services, or loaned the money reasonably
believed that it would not be used primarily for personal, family, or
household purposes.
   (b) The levy under a writ of attachment or the service of a
temporary protective order in an action in which the plaintiff does
not recover judgment.
   (c) The levy under writ of attachment obtained pursuant to Article
3 (commencing with Section 484.510) of Chapter 4 or Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 485.010) on property exempt from attachment
except where the plaintiff shows that the plaintiff reasonably
believed that the property attached was not exempt from attachment.



490.020.  (a) The liability of a plaintiff for causing a wrongful
attachment under Section 490.010 includes both of the following:
   (1) All damages proximately caused to the defendant by the
wrongful attachment.
   (2) All costs and expenses, including attorney's fees, reasonably
expended in  defeating the attachment.
   (b) The liability of a plaintiff for wrongful attachment pursuant
to Section 490.010 is limited by the amount of the undertaking.



490.040.  The amount of any recovery for wrongful attachment shall
be offset insofar as possible against any unsatisfied amounts owed to
the plaintiff by the defendant on the judgment in the action for
which wrongful attachment damages are awarded.



490.060.  Nothing in this chapter limits the right to recover for
damages caused by an attachment or protective order on any common law
theory of recovery.