Serova

*490 Defendants and appellants Sony Music Entertainment (Sony), John Branca, as co-executor of the estate of Michael J. Jackson (the Estate), and MJJ Productions, Inc. (collectively Appellants) appeal from an order of the superior court partially denying their motion to strike under the anti-SLAPP statute. ( Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16.) 1 Plaintiff and respondent Vera Serova (Serova) filed this putative class action against Appellants and other defendants for marketing a posthumous Michael Jackson album entitled simply Michael. Serova claims that the album cover and a promotional video misleadingly represented that Jackson was the lead singer on each of the 10 vocal tracks on the album, when in fact he was not the lead singer on three of those tracks.

Serova alleged claims under the Unfair Competition Law (UCL; Bus.& Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq. ) and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA; Civ. Code, § 1750 et seq. ). Serova also brought a fraud claim against defendants Edward Joseph Cascio, James Victor Porte, and Cascio's production company, Angelikson Productions, LLC (collectively, the Cascio Defendants), alleging that those defendants knowingly misrepresented to Appellants…