California Court of Appeal

In suit alleging that hedge fund principals and a publisher of subscriber-based analytic reports on public companies stepped over the line into defamation and other torts with respect to the flurry and timing of reports on an online closeout retailer, denial of anti-SLAPP motions is affirmed as, in this scenario, and at this early stage of discovery, the trial court correctly declined to strike the complaint.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/30/2007
• Published 05/30/2007

Judges

• REARDON, J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Keker & Van Nest, LLP, John W. Keker, Susan J. Harriman, Steven A. Hirsch, San Francisco, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP, Perrie M. Weiner, Edward D. Totino, Los Angeles, for Gradient Appellants., Lowenstein Sandler PC, Gavin J. Rooney, Roseland, NJ, Michael J. Hahn, Sherman Oaks, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Grace A. Carter, Hilton S. Williams, San Francisco, for Rocker Appellants., Hunton & Williams LLP, Colleen Heisey, John Jay Range, Washington, DC, M. Christine Klein, Richmond, VA, William P. McKeithan, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Thomas R. Burke, San Francisco, Lucy A. Dalglish, Gregg P. Leslie, Casey P. Murray, for Amici Curiae on Behalf of Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Stein & Lubin LLP, Theodore A. Griffinger, Jr., Ellen A. Cirangle, San Francisco, Tanya Herrera, Freitas, McCarthy, MacMahon & Keating, Thomas F. Keating, Jr., Neil J. Moran, San Rafael, for Respondents., Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Tom Greene, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Albert Norman Shelden, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Ronald A. Reiter, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Kathrin Sears, Deputy Attorney General, for Amicus Curiae on Behalf of Respondents.