A Church tried to evict a tenant of its banquet hall. It failed, largely because a priest who was a key witness falsely denied that he signed a written lease with the Tenant. Tenant then sued Church for malicious prosecution. Church brought a SLAPP and argued that Tenant couldn’t prevail because of the interim adverse judgment rule. That rule holds that if the defendant had some success in the prior action, like a denial of a defense motion for summary judgment, the prior action couldn’t have been totally meritless. The problem here is that there’s no actual favorable ruling. Church is trying to make one out based on some oral comments by the trial judge. But, as the Court holds here, the rule only applies when there’s a judgment or an order that actually rules on a dispositive motion. Random stray comments from the court don’t cut it.
Reversed.
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