Appellate Practice
Aug. 17, 2002
Group Can Try Again To Win SLAPP Fees
LOS ANGELES - An appellate court has sent Venice tenants back to court to try to collect attorney fees from their landlord under the anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation statute.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that the Lincoln Park Tenants Association can get fees under the statute, even though their landlord's lawsuit was dismissed on other grounds.
The tenants had filed a motion under California's anti-SLAPP law, which is aimed at stopping legal intimidation, to block a lawsuit filed by Pfeiffer Venice Properties. Pfeiffer had claimed the renters' group broke two locks and destroyed a sign during a dispute over parking spaces.
Superior Court Judge Gregory C. O'Brien threw out the suit before getting to the anti-SLAPP claim, then denied tenants their fees. The appeals panel told him to hear the anti-SLAPP matter, then decide on the fee request.
"We hold that the trial court has jurisdiction to award attorney fees to a prevailing defendant whose SLAPP motion was not heard solely because the matter was dismissed before defendants obtained a ruling on the SLAPP motion," Justice Orville A. Armstrong wrote for the appellate panel.
Katherine Gaidos
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