Sometimes the Supreme Court Is Just too Inconvenient

Okorie v. L.A. Unified Sch. Dist., No. B268733 (D2d1 Aug. 16, 2017)

This anti-SLAPP opinion is problematic. But to get to the bottom of it, we need to talk about how to harmonize the California Supreme Court’s recent anti-SLAPP decisions in Baral and Park. 

Turnabout on Remand

Crossroads Investors, L.P.  v. Fed. Nat’l Mortgage Assoc., No. C072585A (D3 Jul. 27, 2017)

This is an odd one. The Court of Appeal issued an opinion affirming the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion. The Supreme Court issued a grant-and-transfer, ordering reconsideration based on an intervening decision. And now, the the Court of Appeal reverses whole hog, in a ruling that is inconsistent with is prior decision in ways untouched by the intervening Supreme Court case.

A Course Correction on the Anti-SLAPP Journey

Baral v. Schnitt, No. S225090 (Cal. Aug. 1, 2016)

In first of several pending cases addressing the anti-SLAPP statute, the Supreme Court resolves a longstanding split about how to handle so-called “mixed” causes of action. That is, causes of action that implicate both protected and unprotected activity. I’ve discussed this split previously here and here, as well as in my original post on the Court of Appeal’s decision in this case. 
In a cogent analysis focusing on both the text and the practicalities of the issue, the Court ultimately adopts the current minority rule.