But Causes of Action Don't Arise from Defenses

DeCambre v. Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, No. D063462 (D4d1, as modified Apr. 2, 2015)

Plaintiff is a doctor who got fired. She says it was racial harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. The hospital says it was the culmination of its peer review process. The hospital brought an anti-SLAPP motion, arguing that the peer review process is protected activity, and the trial court granted it. That was wrong. In the anti-SLAPP analysis, plaintiff’s claims “arise from” her own claims. Here, that was the harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, which are not protected activity. The peer review process, which unquestionably protected is, is only the hospital’s defense.