Steve Thomas v. Fry's Electronics, Inc., a California Corporation

Steve Thomas brings this interlocutory appeal challenging the district court’s denial of his anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Purpose (“anti-SLAPP”) special motion to strike state law counterclaims brought by Fry’s Electronics in Thomas’s declaratory relief action. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (b). The district court ruled that in light of recent Supreme Court authority, California’s anti-SLAPP statute is in conflict with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and thus is unavailable to litigants in federal court. After reviewing the district court’s decision de novo, see Vess v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. USA, 317 F.3d 1097, 1102 (9th Cir.2003), we reverse and remand.

The district court ruled that the Supreme Court’s decision in Swierkiewicz v. Sorema, 534 U.S. 506 , 122 S.Ct. 992 , 152 L.Ed.2d 1 (2002), undermines our decision in United States ex rel. Newsham v. Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., 190 F.3d 963 (9th Cir.1999). In Lockheed, we determined that California anti-SLAPP motions to strike and entitlement to fees and costs are available to litigants proceeding in federal court, and that these provisions do not conflict with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.…