Vanga

BACKGROUND

On June 25, 2021, plaintiff King Vanga (Plaintiff) was involved in a car accident that resulted in the deaths of Defendant’s mother-in-law and father- in-law. Media stories in the subsequent days, which Defendant read, stated Plaintiff had been arrested and law enforcement reported he was under the

1 “SLAPP” stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.”

(Rand Resources, LLC v. City of Carson (2019) 6 Cal.5th 610, 615.) All undesignated statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure.

1 influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the accident. Defendant saw Plaintiff’s online booking information stating he had been arrested for battery against a peace officer, resisting or obstructing a peace officer, removing a firearm from a peace officer, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and two counts of driving under the influence causing bodily injury. Two of the decedents’ family members told Defendant they spoke to one of the responding law enforcement officers on June 29, 2021, and he informed them that: he thought Plaintiff was under the influence at the time of the accident; Plaintiff declined to submit to a breathalyzer test at…