Fitzgibbons

Defendant Michael Fitzgibbons appeals the trial court’s denial of his special motion to strike brought under the anti-SLAPP statute (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16). Fitzgibbons contends an e-mail message he sent questioning the financial condition of plaintiff Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (IHHI), concerned a matter of public interest under section 425.16, subdivision (e)(4), and that IHHI failed to demonstrate a probability of prevailing on the merits of its claims for defamation, breach of contract, tortious interference, and violations of Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq. We agree with these contentions and reverse the trial court’s order.

I

Factual and Procedural Background

In 2004, Tenet Healthcare Corporation sought to divest itself of a number of California hospitals it owned, including four in Orange County. Among those seeking to purchase the Orange County hospitals was IHHI, a holding company formed for this purpose. As its president concedes, IHHI is a “heavily debt leveraged” company “trying to develop sufficient cash flow to survive in a difficult healthcare market.” Because of concerns about fflOHI’s financial ability to operate the…