Valuerock TN Props., LLC v. PK II Larwin Square SC LP

*182 *1040 This is an appeal from an order denying a special motion to strike under the anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16 ( § 425.16 ).) The case arises from a landlord's repeated refusal to consent to the proposed assignment of a ground lease for the anchor space in a shopping center. The plaintiffs are the entities that wish to assign the leasehold interest and the entities that agreed to take the assignment; the defendants are the landlord and its parent company.

In their original and first amended complaints, the plaintiffs alleged the landlord unreasonably withheld consent to the plaintiffs' lease assignment request. While the litigation was pending, the plaintiffs made an amended lease assignment request, which the landlord similarly rejected. In their second amended complaint, the plaintiffs asserted the same five causes of action as before, but added allegations about the landlord's refusal to consent to their amended assignment request.

The landlord filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike the second amended complaint, contending the plaintiffs' amended assignment request and the landlord's response to that…