California Court of Appeal

In action against defendants-landlords for a declaration of the parties' rights under the Ellis Act, dismissal of action after granting motion to strike the tenants' complaint under the SLAPP statute is reversed where: 1) the landlords' instigating eviction proceedings against the tenants after the judgment did not moot the appeal or the underlying action; 2) the landlords did not establish that the tenants' declaratory rights cause of action "arose from" actions by the landlords in furtherance of their constitutional rights of petition or free speech; and 3) the tenants' prayer for injunctive relief to prevent "defendants from evicting plaintiffs from their residence" did not subject this action to a motion to strike under the SLAPP statute.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/23/2007
• Published 08/16/2007

Judges

• JOHNSON, Acting P.J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John B. Murdock, Santa Monica, for Plaintiffs and Appellants., Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Manuel M. Mederios, State Solicitor General, Thomas J. Greene, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Louis Verdugo, Jr., Senior Assistant Attorney General, Angela Sierra and Antonette B. Cordero, Deputy Attorneys General, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Nemecek & Cole, Jonathan B. Cole, Greg Ozhekim, Sherman Oaks, and Mark Schaeffer, for Defendants and Respondents.