SLAPP: Partial Reversal Of SLAPP Victories Means That Attorney’s Fees Award To The Defense Had To Be Revisited

Parsing Out Unsuccessful Work And Assessing Satisfaction Of Litigation Objectives Had To Be Considered On Remand.

            In Berry v. Pope Valley Union Elementary School Dist., Case No. A165592 (1^st Dist., Div 3 Oct. 10, 2023) (unpublished), defendant District SLAPPed plaintiff’s amended complaint, while another defendant SLAPPed all but one whistleblower claim.  The defendants respectively were awarded mandatory SLAPP fees of $8,507 and $5,494.50.  On appeal, the appellate court found that procedural due process and equal protection claims should not have been SLAPP-ed, which would lead to a reconsideration of the fee awards.  In doing so, a two-step lodestar analytical process needed to be utilized: (1) segregating out unsuccessful SLAPP work; and (2) with respect to the successful arguments, consideration of whether the defense achieved their litigation objectives.  (Mann v. Quality Old Time Services, Inc., 139 Cal.App.4^th 328, 344-345 (2006).)