Partner Carl Mueller and the Mueller Christensen LLP team secured a trial court victory for its attorney client, defeating a $1,000,000 claim through a successful Anti-SLAPP motion.
In its ruling, the court held that the litigation-related conduct underlying the Penal Code section 502 claim arose from protected activity within the Anti-SLAPP statute, and further found the claim barred by the litigation privilege under Civil Code section 47(b). The court also struck the malicious prosecution claim, concluding plaintiffs could not establish favorable termination because the underlying action remained pending. The ruling dismissed both causes of action against the firmโs client and confirmed the right to seek attorneyโs fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16(c)(1).
This result reflects the strong protections California law provides against claims targeting litigation-related activity.
* ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ.