Lugo

4/18/

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

SAIDE LUGO, B324368

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 22STCV17590 v.

PIXIOR, LLC, et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Mark V. Mooney, Judge. Reversed. Ross, Peter W. Ross, Ira G. Bibbero; Farivar Law Firm, Fahim Farivar, Brian Ning and Catherine Y. Jung for Defendants and Appellants. Binder and Kalioundji, David S. Binder and Zena M. Kalioundji for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________ Saide Lugo sued former employer Pixior, LLC and some of its employees for malicious prosecution. Lugo claimed Pixior had falsely reported her to police, which triggered a criminal prosecution against her that she defeated. In response to the malicious prosecution lawsuit, Pixior defendants filed a special motion to strike, which the trial court erroneously denied. As a matter of law, Pixior had a winning defense: criminal prosecutors acted only after an independent investigation. It was error to deny Pixior’s motion. Factually, the parties…