California SLAPP Law

Anti-SLAPP Forum Shopping

About 30 states have anti-SLAPP statutes, and applying some sophisticated mathematical algorithms, that means there are about 20 states that don’t have anti-SLAPP statutes. This reality has led to the completely predictable phenomenon of forum shopping to avoid anti-SLAPP protections. If you are a public figure, or want to avoid protected speech issues, head to a state with no anti-SLAPP law.

One popular destination is good old Virginia. Ironically, Virginia’s motto is Sic semper Tyrannis, meaning “thus always to tyrants.” Virginia is a good place for tyrants to go so their lawsuits can’t be challenged. (It’s actually a shortened version of a Latin phrase meaning, “thus always I bring death to tyrants,” but my tortured version works better in the context of this article.)

Without any editorial comment intended as to their motives or the merits of their actions, it happens that Congressman Devin Nunes filed a defamation action in Virginia against Twitter and a parody account called “Devin Nunes’ Cow.” And Johnny Depp filed a defamation action against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, for an opinion piece she wrote for The Washington Post, discussing her alleged domestic abuse. She actually never mentioned Depp by name in the piece, but given their well known marital controversy, the bread crumbs were not hard to follow.

To be perfectly accurate, Virginia is technically one of the 30 states that does have an anti-SLAPP statute, but it is extremely limited, basically applying only to “statements made . . . at a public hearing before the governing body of any locality or other political subdivision, or the boards, commissions, agencies and authorities thereof, and other governing bodies of any local governmental entity concerning matters properly before such body.” And even those statements are not protected if malice can be shown.

Virginia is attempting to limit this forum shopping by creating a real anti-SLAPP statute along the lines of California’s statute. So far, the efforts have been unsuccessful. Maybe the Legislators like having celebrities come to town for their trials.

Bottom line. If you need to avoid California’s anti-SLAPP statute, and you have some jurisdictional basis to bring your action in a state without an anti-SLAPP statute, this is an option open to you. At least until all 50 states have such statutes.

Ready for the most self-aggrandizing article you’ve eve read? What will surprise you even more is that it arises from a motion and appeal that I lost.

Here’s the self-aggrandizing part up front. I think my understanding of SLAPP law now surpasses the ability of judges and justices to understand. Or at least my ability to make them understand. Like Sheldon Cooper trying to explain string theory to Penny. At least that’s my argument and I’m going to stick to it. As the following story indicates (at least to me, being a legend in my own mind), I just see things others cannot.

Here’s the greatly altered fact pattern (to protect the innocent).

My client accused someone of being a bank robber on social media, and notified the police that said that person had robbed a bank. That party took umbrage with being called a bank robber, and sued for defamation. Part of the defamation he alleged was the report to the police.

Now some quick background to set the scene.

Many years ago I was retained to handle an appeal from a defamation case. The defendant had been hit with a one million dollar judgment arising from three alleged wrongs. He had (1) said bad thing about the plaintiff at an HOA meeting, (2) he had said bad things about the plaintiff to the police, and (3) he had allegedly crank called the plaintiff on a number of occasions.

As you probably immediately recognized, items 1 and 2 are clearly protected activities. Speech at an HOA meeting is protected speech under Civil Code section 425.16, as is a call to the police. These allegations should have been stricken, leaving only the crank phone calls.

But it did not play out that way. The attorneys had filed an anti-SLAPP motion, but this was before Beral v. Schnitt, and the judge ruled that the case could go forward since some of the allegations were not protected. He noted, however, that he was going to limit the case to just the prank phone calls, since the other allegations arose from protected speech.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, when it came time for trial, that judge was otherwise occupied and the case was reassigned to another judge. With no understanding of defamation law and privileges, the new judge didn’t limit the case to just the prank calls. The attorneys could not make the judge understand the applicable law, and he let all the issues go to the jury. He denied the motions in limine, and he even denied the proffered jury instructions that would have explained the concept of privilege.

Thus, the jury was allowed to award damages for the statements made at the HOA meeting, the statements made to the police, and the crank phone calls. If limited to the crank phone calls, this likely would have been a $1,000 judgment, but the jury was inflamed by the protected speech, and gave the huge award on that basis.

The lesson I learned from handling the appeal on this case is that you must strike these allegations by way of an anti-SLAPP motion, because they may escape every other challenge, with disastrous results.

Back to the alleged bank-robber. Read the rest of this entry »

I remember sitting in court – Judge Banks’ court in Orange County to be specific – and he called a motion for summary judgment that was on calendar, noting that another party had “joined” the motion. I see this all the time. One party files a demurrer, or a motion for summary judgment, or whatever, and an attorney representing a different party says, “hey, that’s a great idea,” and files a “notice of joinder” on the motion. You may have engaged in the behavior yourself.

But as Judge Banks explained to the unfortunate attorney, it doesn’t work that way. As he put it, “when you ‘join’ in a motion, it means only that you are cheering from the sideline, ‘go team go.’” The court has no power to bestow the requested relief on your client.

The reason should be self-evident. The evidence that is offered in support of a motion for summary judgment for one client may have no applicability to another. The missing elements that would justify sustaining a demurrer as to one party may not apply to another. If “joinder” were permitted, then the non-movant would be placed in a terrible quandary. He, she, or it would have to speculate on why the same arguments would apply to the joining party, and try to oppose them.

But with all that said, an anti-SLAPP motion presents a different analysis. Because of the two prong analysis, a defendant can ride on the coattails of another moving defendant. If the movant successfully argues that the conduct falls under the anti-SLAPP statute, the burden then shifts to the plaintiff to show a likelihood of success. The second prong can then be decided without any evidence from the defendant who joined the motion.

In the case of a motion for summary judgment, for example, the moving defendant must present evidence sufficient to establish a complete defense to the targeted claims, or to show that the plaintiff will be unable to prove an essential element. Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 851. Simply joining the motion of another party does not satisfy this requirement.

But on a special motion to strike, the moving defendant need only demonstrate that the action arises out of protected First Amendment activity. Paul for Council v. Hanyecz (2001) 85 Cal.App.4th 1356, 1365. In Barak v. Quisenberry Law Firm (2006) 135 Cal.App.4th 654, 660-661, the Court concluded that so long as one defendant met that burden, others could join.

But don’t take this too far. Obviously, if the complaint alleges different types of wrongdoing by the defendants, the court may not be able to rule as to the joining defendant. Complicating matters further, there were problems with the plaintiff’s opposition in Barak.

Nonetheless, if you find yourself in a situation where one of the other defendants has filed an anti-SLAPP motion, take a hard look to determine if it would make sense to join in the motion.