California SLAPP Law

In this week’s podcast, we look at two unsuccessful anti-SLAPP motions that were decided this week, and examine where the attorneys went wrong. Yelp continues to get into mischief. In Episode 4 of the California SLAPP Law Podcast, we discussed the case of Yelp v. McMillan Law Group , wherein Yelp is suing a law firm, claiming that it posted fake reviews, and that Yelp was damaged as a result...

It was a great anti-SLAPP week at Morris & Stone. Today we discuss two of our motions, and the result of last week’s Evil Yogurt Maker case. We will examine the scope of discovery following the filing of an anti-SLAPP motion, and apply those standards to a pending motion. Specifically, I discuss the case of Britts v. Superior Court (2006) 145 Cal. App.4th 1112. In Britts , the defendant...

A client found me while searching for information about California Code of Civil Procedure section 425.17, proving that clients do some very sophisticated research on their legal issues. Changing the facts to protect the privacy of my client, he had warned the public about an evil yogurt maker who was falsely claiming to sell organic yogurt, and for that good deed he was hit with a lawsuit for def...

A great anti-SLAPP decision that has been five years in the making. In this podcast, we discuss the case of Makaeff v. Trump University , which contains an outstanding discussion of limited public figures and meeting the standard for showing actual malice. Here are the facts: Between August 2008 and June 2009, Tarla Makaeff attended approximately seven real estate investing and finance seminars, w...

With the wisdom of a penny-stock investor trying out day-trading for the first time, the brilliant financial minds at CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) decided to dump more than a billion dollars into three “structured investment vehicles” or SIVs, backed by subprime mortgages. After all, Standard & Poors had given these three SIVs AAA ratings, even though they were “stu...

We’re not even done with the fifth month of 2014, and California already has 12 reported decisions arising from anti-SLAPP appeals. In the 5th Episode of the California SLAPP Law Podcast, we discuss four anti-SLAPP decisions. Anti-SLAPP Decisions: MORIARTY v. LARAMAR  MANAGEMENT CORPORATION (2014) 224 Cal. App.4th 125 — A landlord-tenant case with no particular significance other than...

In this 4th episode of the California SLAPP Law Podcast, I discuss the truly strange legal action brought by Yelp against one of its former customers, the McMillan Law Group. In its complaint, Yelp alleges that it works to maintain the purity of the reviews posted on Yelp.com, and that the McMillan Law Group caused damage to Yelp by posting false positive reviews.  McMillan Law Group has just resp...

A lot of useful information in today’s show, if I do say so myself. We discuss anti-SLAPP procedures and strategies, and what you need to know about the 60 and 30 day deadlines for anti-SLAPP motions, and an easy and efficient way to protect your anti-SLAPP motion if the court clerk won’t set the hearing in 30 days or less. I show you why it can be risky to amend a complaint, and why using a motio...

In the last episode of the California SLAPP Law Podcast, I explained how crucial it is for every California litigator to understand this sweeping area of the law. There is virtually no litigation practice that won’t be impacted by the anti-SLAPP statutes. If that was not persuasive enough, let me bring in a little closer to home. In today’s episode I discuss the common causes of action...

California’s SLAPP Law provides for the use of special motions to strike , called “ anti-SLAPP motions, ” to quickly dispose of lawsuits that were filed only to improperly silence free speech or to prevent the defendant from pursuing a lawful legal remedy. But as one person put it, the 15 Legislators who passed the law failed to consider the 4,000 attorneys who would interpret it...