Supreme Court of California

In order to obtain dismissal of a SLAPP lawsuit under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, defendant need not demonstrate that the action was brought with the intent to chill defendant's exercise of constitutional speech or petition rights.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/29/2002
• Published 08/29/2002

Judges

• WERDEGAR, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
•  McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, Leslie G. Landau, San Francisco, Colleen P. Doyle, Los Angeles, Deborah A. Nolan, Matthew Moran, Robert A. Brundage, Margaret Prinzing and Alison R. Beck, San Francisco, for Plaintiff and Appellant.,  Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro and Michael J. Steel, San Francisco, for California Chamber of Commerce and Chemical Industry Council of California as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mehrban, Ghalchi & Yeroushalmi, Yeroushalmi & Ghalchi, Kamran Ghalchi, Reuben Yeroushalmi;  Law Offices of Morsé Mehrban and Morsé Mehrban, Los Angeles, for Defendant and Respondent., Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Richard M. Frank, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Craig C. Thompson, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Theodora Berger, Assistant Attorney General, Matthew F. Lintner and Edward G. Weil, Deputy Attorneys General, for the People as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., Law Office of James J. Moneer and James J. Moneer as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., Levy, Ram, Olson & Rossi, Karl Olson;  Karlene W. Goller, Los Angeles;  Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, Edward P. Davis, Jr., San Jose, James Chadwick;  Thomas W. Newton, Sacramento;  Levine Sullivan & Koch, James Grossberg;  Harold Fuson;  Stephen J. Burns, Sacramento;  Steinhart & Falconer, Roger R. Myers and Rachel E. Boehm for California Newspaper Publishers Association, Los Angeles Times, Copley Press, Inc., McClatchy Newspapers, San Jose Mercury, Freedom Communications, Inc., The Hearst Corporation, Media News Group and The Recorder as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., R.S. Radford and Meriem L. Hubbard, Sacramento, for Pacific Legal Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., Mark Goldowitz, Berkely, for California Anti SLAPP Project as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., Margaret C. Crosby for American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., Daniel Tokaji and Peter Eliasberg, Los Angeles, for ACLU Foundation of Southern California as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., Jordan Budd for American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., Law Office of Fredric Evenson and Fredric Evenson for Ecological Rights Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.,  Law Office of Elizabeth Bader and Elizabeth E. Bader, San Francisco. for Kairos Project as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent., James R. Wheaton, Oakland, and Iryna A. Kwasny for Environmental Law Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.