Madrid

INTRODUCTION

In holding that perfecting an appeal from an order denying a special motion to strike under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.161 stays trial court proceedings on the merits, the Supreme Court recognized some such appeals “will undoubtedly delay litigation even though the appeal is frivolous or insubstantial.” (Varian Medical Systems, Inc. v. Delfino (2005) 35 Cal.4th 180, 186, 195; see Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal, LLC v. City of Oakland (2020) 54 Cal.App.5th 738, 763 [a “‘major reason’” for the explosion of special motions to strike under section 425.16 “‘is that the statute rewards the filer of an unsuccessful . . . motion with what one court has called a “free time-out” from further litigation in the trial court’”].) This is one of those appeals. And the timeout is over. Susana Madrid and Daniel Villa filed this wrongful death action after their son, Joe Villa,2 died in a motorcycle accident. Madrid and Villa alleged that Joe lost control of his motorcycle after he hit a temporary metal plate on the road and that the plate was installed in connection with a nearby construction project. Madrid and Villa sued the project’s contractor and related entities,…