Defendant school board members’ Anti-SLAPP motion was properly denied since it failed to show that plaintiff’s claims that defendants disclosed her medical records and threatened her arose out of school board’s official proceedings. Read More
An appellate opinion on an Anti-SLAPP motion directed at the original complaint was not the law of the case as to a later similar motion against an amended complaint that substantially changed the nature of the pleading. Read More
The Legislature directed the Inspector General to investigate the treatment of prisoners at the High Desert prison, so the IG’s office should have won its Anti-SLAPP motion when it got sued for interrogating police officers, allegedly in violation of the Police Officers’ Bill of Rights Act. Read More
In federal court, an Anti-SLAPP motion based on purely legal arguments is analyzed under the motion to dismiss standards, while an Anti-SLAPP motion challenging the factual support for plaintiff’s claims is governed by summary judgment standards and the plaintiff must be allowed discovery. Read More
Legal malpractice actions generally are not SLAPPs even though much evidence to prove the malpractice claim involves actions taken in the prosecution or defense of the underlying action. Read More
Defendant’s complaint about plaintiff to the private Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards is not protected speech under the Anti-SLAPP statute since the Board is neither a government agency nor a public forum. Read More
Defendant was entitled to Anti-SLAPP protection against celebrity plaintiff’s complaint alleging that defendant’s TV docu-drama misappropriated her right to publicity. Read More
The trial court properly granted defendant landlord's Anti-SLAPP motion to strike plaintiff's claim that the landlord violated Santa Monica's anti-harassment ordinance by filing an unlawful detainer complaint against the plaintiff which supposedly lacked sufficient factual and legal support. Read More
Unless the trial court in its discretion permits a later filing, an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike a cause of action must be filed within 60 days of service of the first complaint alleging that claim. Read More
Defendant was entitled to Anti-SLAPP protection after plaintiff sued it for defamation and interference with economic advantage based on defendant’s activities in lobbying local government to disallow plaintiff’s proposed subdivision. Read More
An employer could not pursue a lawsuit against former employee’s lawyer for disclosing, in course of False Claims Act suit, documents that the employee had taken with him after being fired. Read More
In the anti-SLAPP context, if a complaint itself shows that a claim arises from protected conduct, a moving party may rely on the plaintiff's allegations alone in making the showing necessary under prong one without submitting supporting evidence. Read More
In deciding whether a defendant’s conduct is protected activity within the meaning of the anti-SLAPP statute, each defendant’s conduct must be analyzed separately. Read More
A voluntary dismissal without prejudice is sufficient evidence of a favorable termination for purposes of a later malicious prosecution suit. Read More
One heir’s suit against another, which sought to disinherit a co-heir defendant under the no contest clause in the decedent's trust, is a suit based on protected activity and thus is subject to an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike, since the defendant’s prior contest was a protected judicial proceeding. Read More
Defendant’s Anti-SLAPP motion was properly denied as the claim was based on defendant’s unprotected decision to terminate the plaintiff distributor rather than on the defendant’s later protected acts in a statutory arbitration proceeding concerning the termination. Read More
The gravamen or principal thrust analysis still governs whether a cause of action is subject to an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike; so if the gist or gravamen of plaintiff’s complaint was protected conduct, the Anti-SLAPP motion should be granted even if the complaint also alleged some non-protected conduct. Read More
Facebook was entitled to an Anti-SLAPP dismissal of claim based on third-party postings on a Facebook page about plaintiff’s sleep-deprived drivers causing serious traffic accidents, a matter of public concern. Read More
Lender's alleged failure to (1) provide reinstatement amounts in response to a defaulted borrower's request or (2) respond to plaintiff's claimed tender of arrearages under the deed of trust, were protected activity under the Anti-SLAPP statute, but only because they occurred in the context of the borrower’s bankruptcy proceeding. Read More
Plaintiff could not sue defendant for defamation after defendant rated plaintiff’s website as carrying adult content and copyright-infringing material, since these ratings addressed matters of public interest and were therefore protected by the Anti-SLAPP statute. Read More
