Remand Also Ordered For Purposes of Awarding Appellate Defense Fees.
In Mendoza v. ADP Screening and Selection Services, Inc., Case No. B214653 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Mar. 23, 2010) (certified for publication), the appellate court considered the collision of Megan’s Law and the SLAPP statute. Specifically, Megan’s Law has a provision prohibiting use of information on the Megan’s Law Website (MLW) for specified employment purposes, making users liable for actual damages, attorney’s fees, exemplary damages, and a civil penalty up to $25,000. (Pen. Code, § 290.46(1)(2)(E), (4)(A).)
Plaintiff employee applicant sued defendant employment screening business for sharing MLW information with defendant’s client (the putative employer). Defendant brought a successful SLAPP motion, which was affirmed on appeal.
That affirmance did two things: (1) it sustained the trial court’s award of mandatory SLAPP attorney’s fees of $42,593.75 to defendant; and (2) the appellate court remanded so that more appellate attorney’s fees could be awarded to defendant for prevailing on appeal.