Cohen

The defendants in this case, attorney Michael Brown and the California Lawyers Group, LLP, have appealed from an order denying their special motion to strike the plaintiff’s first amended complaint (complaint). The motion was brought under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, the anti-SLAPP statute (§425.16; SLAPP—strategic lawsuit against public participation).

The trial court denied the motion because it determined that the activities of Brown on which the special motion to strike the complaint is based were not acts taken by Brown as a valid exercise of his rights of petition or free speech (§ 425.16, subds. (a), (b)(1)), but rather constituted extortion and were therefore illegal. We find the court’s analysis is correct and we will affirm the court’s order.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. The Underlying Action

According to plaintiff’s complaint, the instant action has its beginnings in an earlier suit—a personal injury suit in which one Sidney Zerah (Zerah) sued two defendants, Dawnn Alane (Alane) and Irving Klein (Klein), after Klein made an illegal left turn into oncoming traffic in November 2005, and struck Alane’s vehicle, which in turn struck Zerah’s…