The following excerpt is from Engel v. CBS, Inc., 689 N.Y.S.2d 411, 711 N.E.2d 626, 93 N.Y.2d 195 (N.Y. 1999):
This leads naturally to the conclusion that burdens substantially equivalent to those imposed by provisional remedies are enough. Actual imposition of a provisional remedy need not occur, and a highly substantial and identifiable interference with person, property, or business will suffice (see, e.g., Groat v. Town Bd., 73 A.D.2d 426, 426 N.Y.S.2d 339). Since the role that the special injury requirement fulfills is that of a buffer to insure against retaliatory malicious prosecution claims and unending litigation, we are satisfied that a verifiable burden substantially equivalent to the provisional remedy effect can amount to special injury. Put another way, what is "special" about special injury is that the defendant must abide some concrete harm that is considerably more cumbersome than the physical, psychological or financial demands of defending a lawsuit. This standard strikes the balance required between discouraging excess litigation on the one hand and prohibiting the malicious use of the courts on the other.
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