California Court of Appeal

A cross-complaint or independent lawsuit filed in response to, or in retaliation for, threatened or actual litigation is not subject to the anti-SLAPP statute simply because it may be viewed as an oppressive litigation tactic, and no lawsuit is properly subject to a special motion to strike under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 unless its allegations arise from acts in furtherance of the right of petition or free speech.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/30/2002
• Published 01/30/2002

Judges

• PERLUSS, J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
•  Thelen Reid & Priest, John B. Clark, San Francisco, Timothy L. Pierce and Amy L. Rubinfeld, Los Angeles, for Plaintiff, Cross-Defendant and Appellant., Arter & Hadden, William S. Davis, Gerald M. Fisher and Kenneth F. Mattfeld, Los Angeles;  Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, Patricia L. Glaser and Alisa Morgenthaler Lever, Los Angeles;  Okamoto, Wasserman & Torii, Vincent H. Okamoto and Ronald T. Wasserman, Torrance;  and Rockard J. Delgadillo, City Attorney, Richard M. Helgeson and David McKenna, Assistant City Attorneys, for Defendant, Cross-Complainant and Appellant.