Finke

JOHNSON, Acting P.J.

California's SLAPP statute provides in relevant part a court may strike "[a] cause of action against a person arising from any act of that person in furtherance of the person's right of petition or free speech under the United States or California Constitution in connection with a public issue[.]" [1] The principal question in this appeal is whether a defendant moving to strike a cause of action under the SLAPP statute must show all of the acts alleged to give rise to a cause of action were in furtherance of the defendant's First Amendment rights in connection with a public issue or whether it is enough to show at least one of such acts meets these criteria.

We reaffirm our conclusion in Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. v. Paladino "a plaintiff cannot frustrate the purposes of the SLAPP statute through a pleading tactic of combining allegations of protected and nonprotected activity under the label of one `cause of action.'" [2] Therefore we hold the trial court erred in ruling the SLAPP statute does not apply to the present case. We further hold, however, the plaintiff has demonstrated a reasonable probability of prevailing on the merits of all but two of her…