Legal Memos

Bui v. Noo (2024) 101 Cal.App.5th 1061. This is a SLAPP case. The Defendant made statements on YouTube about the Plaintiff and her family at a time when the Plaintiff’s husband was running for political office. Plaintiff sued the Defendants for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Defendants brought a SLAPP motion which the trial court granted but the Court of Appeal reversed. The Court found that the Plaintiff was not a limited purpose public figure for defamation purposes, which was the basis for the trial court’s granting of the SLAPP motion initially. There was no need for the Plaintiff to prove actual malice as a result. Plaintiff had demonstrated the requisite minimum merit of her defamation claim consequently.

Bassi v. Bassi (2024) 101 Cal.App.5th 1080. This is another SLAPP action and it arises in the context of a petition for a domestic violence restraining order which sought to restrain unwanted communications that included threats of other litigation. The trial court denied the motion and the Court of Appeal affirmed finding that to protect the status of some communications as prelitigation statements did not warrant application of the litigation privilege to bar the petition as a whole.

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