Lindsay

I. Background A. Statutory Framework We begin with a brief introduction to the anti-SLAPP law and the public interest exception to it. 1. The Anti-SLAPP Law In 1992 the Legislature enacted the anti-SLAPP law to help weed out, in early stages of litigation, meritless causes of action brought primarily to chill plaintiffs’ valid exercise of certain constitutional rights. (Club Members for an Honest Election v. Sierra Club (2008) 45 Cal.4th 309, 315 (Club Members); Exline v. Gillmor (2021) 67 Cal.App.5th 129, 137 (Exline); § 425.16, subd. (a).) The mechanism it created to achieve this objective has since come to be known as an anti-SLAPP special motion to strike. (Club Members, at p. 315; Exline, at p. 137; cf. § 425.16, subd. (a) [authorizing “a special motion to strike”].) The filing of an anti-SLAPP special motion to strike triggers a two-step process. (Club Members, supra, 45 Cal.4th at p. 315; see also Geragos v. Abelyan (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 1005, 1021–1022 (Geragos).) First, the defendant must carry the burden of making a prima facie showing that a cause of action alleged in the complaint arises from an act of that defendant that is “in furtherance of [its] right of…