Appellate Court Found That The Entire SLAPP Motion Should Be Granted And The Defense Awarded Fees, Not Having To Resolve The Split Between Coltrain and Liu.
On October 2, 2023, we posted on Ross v. Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Case No. B312337 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Oct. 20, 2023) (published), unpublished at the time but certified for publication on October 20. In this opinion, the defense earned a huge appellate win when the 2/8 DCA decided its entire SLAPP motion was righteous such that the requested attorney’s fees of $79,889 were warranted. It did acknowledge a split in intermediate appellate thinking on the prevailing party standard, between Coltrain and Liu, but it found that the defense prevailed for fee purposes under either standard. So, it is likely the defense will seek appellate fees for prevailing in this one.