The Court issued an order staying the case until resolution of Fischer v. Debrincat, 169 So. 3d 1204 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2015). The Florida Supreme Court granted review (SC15-1477, 2015 WL 5917884 (Fla. 2015)) because a split had developed between the Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeal with regard to the scope of the litigation privilege. The Third District had found the litigation privilege extended to claims for malicious prosecution.
We affirm on grounds one, two, and four without further discussion. On ground three, we recognize that the circuit court erred in finding that the litigation privilege barred the plaintiff's malicious prosecution claim, because the court did not have the benefit of our recent decision in Fischer v. Debrincat, 169 So.3d 1204, 1205 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015) (“The litigation privilege cannot be applied to bar the filing of a claim for malicious prosecution where the elements of that tort are satisfied.”), rev. granted, No. SC15–1477, 2015 WL 5917884 (Fla.2015). However, that error is moot given our affirmance of the court's correct decision to strike the plaintiff's complaint as a sham.