Second District, Division 8 Rebuffs Defense Effort to Obtain $49,000 Anti-SLAPP Fee Recovery.
A putative judgment debtor in a sister state judgment proceeding successfully moved to vacate entry of a $56,768 Washington sanctions judgment. Judgment debtor also moved to SLAPP the judgment entry, with the lower court not mentioning SLAPP when vacating the motion for entry of judgment on other grounds. Judgment debtor moved for recovery of $49,000 in attorney’s fees and $527 in costs under the anti-SLAPP scheme. The trial court denied any fee/costs recovery, finding no free speech or petition activity by judgment debtor and also determining that the request to recoup fees for 92 hours in attorney time for preparing a 5-page motion was unreasonable “by any measure.”
Did judgment debtor win on appeal?
No go, ruled the Second District, Division 8 in American Economy Ins. Co. v. Sanai, Case No. B202352 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Mar. 23, 2009) (unpublished). “[Appellant’s] interpretation of the anti-SLAPP statute would in effect render all applications to enforce judgments susceptible to the claim they are suits seeking to chill or punish the exercise of free speech or petition rights. That would be an absurd result, and it finds no support in the statute, the cases, or common sense.” The appellate court sustained the denial of fees by the lower court.