Catanzarite Law Corp. v. Gordon Reese CA4/3
Opinion
Opinion
INTRODUCTION
This is an appeal from an order granting an anti-SLAPP motion to respondent law firm, Gordon & Rees, LLP. Appellant Catanzarite Law Corporation sued Gordon & Rees, among others, for interference with contractual relations after former Catanzarite clients did not honor a contingency fee agreement. Gordon & Rees represented parties opposed to these former clients in a series of Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuits. Gordon & Rees’s clients settled with Catanzarite’s former clients, and, apparently, Catanzarite did not get paid. Gordon & Rees moved to dismiss the lawsuit under the anti-SLAPP statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16,1 a motion the trial court granted. The court also awarded Gordon & Rees its attorney fees, pursuant to section 425.16, subdivision (c)(1). We affirm the order granting the motion. The activity of which Catanzarite complains is clearly protected under the anti-SLAPP statute and privileged under Civil Code section 47. The attorney fee award, however, must be reversed. Gordon & Rees represented itself in the motion proceedings, and a self-represented party cannot recover attorney fees in this context.