SLAPP: SLAPP Fee Denial After SLAPP Merits Denial Ruling Was An Interlocutory Order Which Could Not Be Appealed Until There Was A Final, Appealable Judgment

Appellate Court Sustained Most Of The SLAPP Denial, Except For One Claim, So Case Goes On.

            In Antonio V. v. Horn, Case no. B307098 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Mar. 22, 2023) (unpublished), the lower court denied a SLAPP motion, which was affirmed in major respects except for granting it on one claim.  After the SLAPP motion was denied by the trial court, the lower court also denied a post-merits SLAPP attorney’s fees motion.  The aggrieved party appealed that separate fee denial.  The 2/1 DCA panel dismissed the appeal because an interlocutory order denying the fee request was the subject of the appeal, such that a review of the fee denial had to await a final, appealable judgment down the way given the case has more events to come.  (Doe v. Luster, 145 Cal.App.4^th 139, 150 (2006); Martin v. Inland Empire Utilities Agency, 198 Cal.App.4^th 611, 632 (2011); Baharian-Mehr v. Smith, 189 Cal.App.4^th 265, 274 (2010).)