Orange County Superior Court Judge Colaw So Rules.
In our May 4, 2009 post, we discussed a fee battle brewing in Orange County Superior Court after St. James Church’s SLAPP motion eventually lost in a case against the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. That battle has now taken place so that we can report the result.
Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16(a)(3) provides that the court must award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to a plaintiff beating a SLAPP motion but only if the motion to strike was frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay. Diocese sought fees from St. James and certain volunteer directors under this provision.
Diocese did not prevail. On May 15, 2009, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thierry P. Colaw denied the Diocese’s fee motion. Although the SLAPP procedure had never before been used in a church property dispute, Judge Colaw ruled that the motion was not frivolous, and had been brought in good faith by experienced and well-qualified defense counsel. In his tentative, Judge Colaw rhetorically asked whether the case could be considered to be frivolous when the underlying motion was granted, given that the Court of Appeal issued a 70-page opinion explaining its holding and the California Supreme Court granted review (which only happens to resolve unsettled issues of law) and explained its ruling in a lengthy opinion after consideration of numerous amici briefs for both sides.
For more details on this proceeding, see “Superior Court Denies Episcopal Diocese’s Motion For Attorneys’ Fees,” posted May 15, 2009 by Karen Bro on the St. James Anglican Church website.
Jerusalem. The Anglican Church. Library of Congress.