What is an Anti-SLAPP Lawsuit?

SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. SLAPP refers to a type of lawsuit filed with the intention to silence or intimidate someone from exercising their legal rights rather than to resolve the legal claim. To protect individuals and entities from these lawsuits, which are considered to be retaliatory, many states have Anti-SLAPP laws which allow defendants to quickly dismiss meritless lawsuits and allow them to recover attorneys’ fees if they prevail.

Why Anti-SLAPP Protections are Important

These protections are essential for the following points:

• Ensuring that attorneys can advocate for their clients without fear of retaliatory lawsuits
• Preventing misuse of the legal system to suppress legitimate claims
• Holding those who file abusive lawsuits (or retaliatory lawsuits) financially accountable

Anti-SLAPP Laws in California

California has one of the strongest Anti-SLAPP laws in the country designed to protect both individuals and entities (like law firms) from being sued for engaging in protected conduct. This is based on California’s Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16. Key features of the law include the following:

• Early case dismissal, minimizing time and expense for defendant
• Automatic stay, saving resources until the motion is decided
• Attorney’s fees awarded if the Anti-SLAPP motion is resolved favorably

Other Examples of SLAPP Lawsuits

• A company suing a customer for posting a negative review online
• A landlord suing a tenant for making a complaint to housing authorities for unsafe or uninhabitable living conditions
• An individual suing another party for filing a police report
• A law firm suing another firm for pursuing a fee dispute

In general, these are lawsuits filed with the purpose to retaliate against a party or entity for simply exercising their rights. These claims may be filed with the intention to intimidate parties/entities or to further delay the legal process.

Downtown L.A. Law Group’s Commitment to Our Clients

As a client, you have the right to switch representation at any time during your case and for practically any reason. Here at our law firm, we offer free second opinions to ensure that those looking into switching representation have access to all the information that they need before they decide to switch legal teams. Whether we are handling cases from the start or taking them on after they have been handled by another legal team, our legal team are committed to ensuring that all of our clients can access the payout that they are owed within a reasonable time after their case has been resolved. Naturally, it may take a few days or even a couple of weeks for clients to be able to access their funds after a case resolution. However, we believe in doing everything necessary to make the process as simple as possible – and getting settlement checks to our clients as soon as we are able to. When other law firms work against us in meeting this goal, we have no other choice but to take additional legal action to continue protecting the rights of our clients.

Getting our clients the payout that they are owed is our primary priority, and we are more than ready to take on any party or entity to ensure that our clients get justice.