GALLANIS-POLITIS

SUMMARY

A Los Angeles County (County) employee sued the County and a County official, asserting discrimination claims under state and federal law. In her third amended complaint, the employee also asserted a retaliation claim, and sued two other County supervisory employees as additional defendants with respect to that claim. She alleged the two supervisors obstructed her efforts to obtain bilingual bonus pay by conducting a pretextual investigation and preparing a report falsely concluding she was not entitled to bilingual pay. The two supervisors filed a special motion to strike the complaint under the anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16. They contended that the retaliation claim against them arose from protected First Amendment activity, as the investigation was conducted and the report was prepared in response to a request from counsel for the County in connection with the employee’s discovery requests in the ongoing lawsuit. The supervisors further asserted the employee could not prevail on the merits of her retaliation claim because the litigation privilege operated as an absolute bar to her…