Rusheen

Are actions taken to collect a judgment, such as obtaining a writ of execution and levying on a judgment debtor’s property, protected by the litigation privilege of Civil Code section 47, subdivision (b), as “communication[s]” in the course of a judicial proceeding? In Brown v. Kennard (2001) 94 Cal.App.4th 40 [ 113 Cal.Rptr.2d 891 ] (Brown), the Court of Appeal held that the privilege protects both the process of applying for the writ of execution and the levy on the judgment debtor’s property, as an act of carrying out the writ. On the other hand, in Drum v. Bleau, Fox & Associates (2003) 107 Cal.App.4th 1009 [ 132 Cal.Rptr.2d 602 ] (Drum), the Court of Appeal held that, although the privilege protects the application for the writ of execution, it does not extend to the subsequent, noncommunicative acts in levying on the property. We granted review to resolve the conflict.

We conclude that where the cause of action is based on a communicative act, the litigation privilege extends to those noncommunicative actions which are necessarily related to that communicative act. In this case, because the claim for abuse of process was based on the communicative act of filing…