California’s Anti-SLAPP Statute Untangled

On August 1 the California Supreme Court finally resolved a split of authority among California’s appellate courts over operation of the anti-SLAPP statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, in the mixed cause of action context. For over a decade, the appellate courts have disagreed as to how a plaintiff can satisfy the reasonable probability of success requirement when claims alleging both protected and unprotected activity are included within a single cause of action. Some appellate courts concluded that as long as the plaintiff demonstrated a reasonable probability of success on any part of the claim, including just the allegations of unprotected activity, the SLAPP motion had to be denied. (See Mann v. Quality Old Time Service, Inc. (2004) 120 Cal.App.4th 90.) Others concluded that the plaintiff must focus upon and respond to the claims of protected activity, and failure to demonstrate a reasonable probability of success as to those claims meant the SLAPP motion should be granted and those specific claims stricken. (See Wallace v. McCubbin (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 1169.) In Baral v. Schnitt_ 2016 Cal. LEXIS 6383, a unanimous Court...