Plaintiff originally sued our client for harassment, stalking, and invasion of privacy based on all manner of disparaging allegations. As part of the settlement, plaintiff agreed not to disparage our client again. Plaintiff breached that agreement by raising the same allegations in a new complaint. In response, our client filed a lawsuit for breach of the settlement agreement. Plaintiff then filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike our counter-claim, which the trial court granted finding that plaintiff’s claim were protected speech. On appeal, we argued that when a party contracts not to speak, they waive the protections of the anti-SLAPP statute. The Court of Appeal agreed and reversed the trial court. The Buchalter team was led by Shareholders Eric Kennedy and Of Counsel Robert M. Dato.
