By Anthony J. Oncidi
Anthony J. Oncidi is a partner in and the Chair of the Labor and Employment Department of Proskauer Rose LLP in Los Angeles, where he exclusively represents employers and management in all areas of employment and labor law. His telephone number is (310) 284-5690 and his email address is aoncidi@ proskauer.com. (Tony has authored this column without interruption for every issue of this publication since 1990.)
Daniel v. Wayans, 8 Cal. App. 5th 367 (2017)
Pierre Daniel worked as an extra on a movie entitled "A Haunted House 2," which Marlon Wayans wrote, produced, and starred in. Daniel sued Wayans and others, alleging that during his one day of work on the movie, the defendants allegedly compared him to a "black cartoon character" and called him a "nigga." Wayans moved to strike Daniel's lawsuit as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) pursuant to Civil Procedure Code § 426.16, arguing that all of Daniel's claims arose from Wayans's constitutional right of free speech, because the core injury-producing conduct occurred as part of the creation of the movie and its promotion over the Internet. The trial court granted Wayans's anti-SLAPP motion, dismissed Daniel's lawsuit and awarded Wayans his attorneys' fees. The court of appeal affirmed the trial court's judgment, rejecting Daniel's assertion that the creative process occurs only when the cameras are rolling, and holding that Daniel failed to produce evidence demonstrating a probability of prevailing on his claims. Specifically, the court of appeal held that the word "nigga" as used by Wayans in this context "is not an unambiguous racial epithet in today's world, especially when used intra-racially, as it was here." The court of appeal also held that the trial court properly dismissed Daniel's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress because the alleged misconduct "falls more in the category of insults, indignities, annoyances and petty oppressions" rather than extreme, outrageous conduct. See also Melamed v. Cedars-Sinai Med. Ctr., 8 Cal. App. 5th 1271 (2017) (anti-SLAPP motion properly granted in connection with hospital's actions taken against physician during peer-review process).
Mayes v. WinCo Holdings, Inc., 846 F.3d 1274 (9th Cir. 2017)
Katie Mayes worked...
