Greco

Defendant Clyde C. Greco, Jr., is the trustee of his parents’ trust and the administrator of their estates. He used money from the trust and estates to fund litigation against his sister and others, purportedly to recover money they owed to the trust and estates. After he allegedly spent considerably more money on litigation than he could have possibly recovered, his sister, plaintiff Cara Lyn Greco, brought two lawsuits against him, one in the trial court and one in the probate court, to recover the money he spent, plus penalties. She claimed the prior litigation was a personal vendetta. Clyde Jr. responded to each lawsuit by filing separate special motions to strike pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16. In each case, the special motion to strike was denied.

Denial of a special motion to strike is appealable under section 904.1. (§ 425.16, subd. (i).) On appeal, Clyde Jr. contends he met his burden on the first prong of section 425.16 by establishing that Cara Lyn’s claims arose from protected petitioning activity, funding litigation. He further contends that Cara Lyn cannot meet her burden on the second prong of section 425.16 to submit evidence to…