“The tort provides a remedy when defendant’s wrongful conduct induces a testator to do something that deprives plaintiff of an inheritance. Plaintiff must plead and prove an expectancy of receiving an inheritance. [Plaintiff need not actually be named as a beneficiary in a will. Such a requirement would defeat the purpose of protecting an ‘expectancy.’] Defendant must have had knowledge of plaintiff’s expected inheritance. The conduct constituting the interference must be independently tortious. I.e., it must be wrong for some reason other than the fact of the interference. [The defendant must have acted intentionally and with reasonable certainty that the plaintiff would have inherited.] There can be recovery only for an inheritance or gift that plaintiff would have received but for defendant’s tortious interference.”
“Though no court has yet addressed the issue, the statute of limitations on a claim for IIEI is presumably two years, since that is the limitations period applicable to the other intentional ‘interference’ torts.”
“Plaintiff may recover for all harm proximately caused by defendant’s wrongful acts.”
[California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trail Claims & Defenses [citations to primary sources omitted]]
