Barrenechea

Introduction

Raining Data Corporation sued Mario Barrenechea, Soheil Raissi, and Adevnet, LLC (collectively referred to as defendants), for misappropriation of trade secrets. Defendants responded with a cross-complaint against Raining Data Corporation and its president and chief executive officer, Carlton Baab. (For simplicity, Raining Data Corporation and Baab will be referred to collectively as Raining Data. ) Raining Data filed a motion to strike all causes of action in the cross-complaint, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 (the anti-SLAPP [strategic lawsuit against public participation] motion). (All furthér statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure, unless otherwise specified.) The trial court granted the anti-SLAPP motion, and struck the entirety of the cross-complaint. All three defendants appealed from the order. The appeals of Raissi and Adevnet have been dismissed.

Having reviewed de novo the pleadings and the declarations filed in support of and in opposition to the anti-SLAPP motion, we conclude as follows: (1) Raining Data met its burden of demonstrating the acts underlying the cross-complaint arose from protected activity;…