Pourteymour

I. INTRODUCTION

Ramin Pourteymour sued his lender, First Foundation Bank (FFB) and its outside attorney, Scott Albrecht, for wrongful foreclosure. The trial court struck all causes of action against Albrecht under the anti-SLAPP

statute,1 and Pourteymour appeals from that order. Pourteymour argues the anti-SLAPP statute does not apply because the causes of actions against Albrecht arise from a nonjudicial foreclosure, not Pourteymour’s pending bankruptcy or the current action. Pourteymour similarly asserts the trial court in its anti-SLAPP analysis misapplied the litigation privilege in finding Pourteymour unable to show probable success on his claims. We disagree and affirm the order.

II. BACKGROUND

In 2014, Pourteymour obtained a $4.5 million loan and $3 million line of credit from FFB. Both were secured by his residence on Black Gold Road in La Jolla (Black Gold), with the $4.5 million loan having first priority. FFB also loaned Pourteymour $2.653 million secured by a La Jolla residence on Box Canyon Road (Box Canyon), and $1.6 million secured by a commercial building in Pennsylvania. In March of 2020, as COVID-19 caused a widespread economic slowdown in the US,…