Anderson

Plaintiff and respondent Connie Anderson alleges that deputies of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department unlawfully entered her residence on two occasions, attempting to arrest her daughter pursuant to a bench warrant that had already been recalled, and in the process making defamatory statements to her neighbors. Defendants and appellants Steve Geist and Daniel Shelton (defendants) are two of the sheriff’s deputies alleged to have committed these acts.

Defendants appeal from the trial court’s denial of their special motion to strike the complaint as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (anti-SLAPP motion) pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 (the anti-SLAPP statute). They contend they met their burden to show plaintiff’s causes of action arise from activity protected by the anti-SLAPP statute, and that plaintiff failed to meet her burden of showing a probability she would prevail on the merits, so the trial court should have granted their anti-SLAPP motion. This contention rests, however, on a question that no previous published California case has addressed; whether a peace officer’s execution of a warrant is protected activity under…