Corecivic, Inc. v. Candide Group, LLC

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

CORECIVIC, INC., No. 20-17285 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 3:20-cv-03792-

WHA

CANDIDE GROUP, LLC; MORGAN

SIMON,

Defendants-Appellees. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California William Alsup, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted June 14, 2022 San Francisco, California

Filed August 30, 2022

Before: Sidney R. Thomas, Ronald M. Gould, and Carlos T. Bea, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge S.R. Thomas; Dissent by Judge Bea SUMMARY*

California’s Anti-SLAPP Statute

The panel held that the special motion provision of California’s anti-SLAPP statute applied in federal court, and affirmed in part the district court’s order granting Candide Group, LLC’s motion to strike a defamation complaint brought by CoreCivic, Inc., under California’s anti-SLAPP statute.

At issue were several statements in articles published by Morgan Simon on Forbes.com that connected CoreCivic to the detention of separated families at the U.S. border and characterized its lobbying efforts…