Urick

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts

In 2013, Allyne L. Urick created the Allyne L. Urick Trust (the Trust), a primary asset of which was a three-story apartment building held as part of a joint venture. Upon Allyne’s death, the Trust provided for a lifetime annuity to three people with the remainder going to her deceased husband’s alma mater; the three people were (1) her daughter, Dana Urick (Dana), (2) her son, Willis E. Urick III (Willis), and (3) her grandchild (and Dana’s son), Trentyn Urick-Stasa (Trentyn).

“SLAPP” is short for strategic lawsuit against public participation. All further statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure unless otherwise indicated.

Because many of these individuals share the same last name, we use first names for clarity. We mean no disrespect.

2 When Allyne died in August 2015, Dana became the Trust’s trustee. As trustee, Dana (1) filed a February 2016 petition to reform the Trust to eliminate the bequests to Willis and the school and instead to split the Trust’s $14 million corpus between herself and her son Trentyn, and (2) in March 2017, triggered— but did not consummate—the procedures to buy-out the…