Wong

I. Statement of the Case

Plaintiff Yvonne Wong (Wong), a pediatric dentist, filed an action against defendants Tai Jing (Jing), his wife Jia Ma (Ma), and the Web site Yelp.com (Yelp) based on allegedly false assertions contained in a review posted on Yelp that criticized the dental services Wong had provided to Jing and Ma’s young son. Defendants responded by filing an anti-SLAPP motion under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 to strike Wong’s claims. 1 The trial court denied the motion, and defendants now appeal from that order. (§ 425.16, subd. (i).)

We reverse.

n. Anti-SLAPP Motion Procedure

Section 425.16 is called the anti-SLAPP statute because it allows a defendant to gain early dismissal of causes of action that are designed primarily to chill the exercise of First Amendment rights. (Siam v. Kizilbash (2005) 130 Cal.App.4th 1563, 1568 [ 31 Cal.Rptr.3d 368 ]; Simmons v. Allstate Ins. Co. (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 1068, 1069-1070 [ 112 Cal.Rptr.2d 397 ].) In pertinent part, the statute provides, “A cause of action against a person arising from any act of that person in furtherance of the person’s right of petition or free speech under the United States…