Fraley v. Ford Serviss LLP CA2/5 ( 2022 )


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  • Filed 5/6/22 Fraley v. Ford Serviss LLP CA2/5
    NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
    California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions
    not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion
    has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
    IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
    SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
    DIVISION FIVE
    FRANKLIN R. FRALEY, JR.,                                             B309029 c/w B310525
    (Los Angeles County
    Plaintiff and Appellant,                                    Super. Ct. No.
    20STCV02956)
    v.
    FORD SERVISS LLP, et al.,
    Defendants and Respondents.
    APPEALS from an order and judgement of the Superior
    Court of the County of Los Angeles, Laura A. Seigle, Judge.
    Reversed, in part, and remanded with instructions.
    The David Firm, Henry S. David and Hayim M. Gamzo, for
    Plaintiff and Appellant.
    Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck, Andrew J. Waxler and
    Jordan G. Cohen, for Defendants and Respondents.
    Beitchman & Zekian, David P. Beitchman and Andre
    Boniadi, for Defendants and Respondents.
    I.   INTRODUCTION
    Plaintiff Franklin Fraley, Jr. (Fraley) sued the attorney
    defendants1 for impairing his attorney lien against settlement
    proceeds. The trial court granted defendants’ anti-SLAPP
    motion,2 struck the entire complaint, and awarded defendants
    attorney fees and costs. On appeal, Fraley contends that
    defendants failed to satisfy their burden to show that all of the
    alleged wrongful conduct underlying the complaint was protected
    activity and that, in any event, he showed the requisite
    probability that he would prevail on his claims. We reverse, in
    part, and remand with instructions.
    II.    FACTUAL BACKGROUND
    A.   Kessler’s Retention of Fraley
    In February 2007, Fraley (dba Fraley & Associates) entered
    into a retainer agreement with Drita Kessler and her company,
    DK Art Publishing, Inc. (collectively Kessler), pursuant to which
    Fraley agreed to provide Kessler legal services on various
    1     The defendants are three law firms—Ford Serviss, LLP,
    Collins Ford, LP, and Beitchman & Zekian—and four individual
    attorneys—William H. Ford III, Claudia J. Serviss, Michael D.
    Collins, and David P. Beitchman.
    2     The term “SLAPP” is an acronym for strategic lawsuit
    against public participation. (Barrett v. Rosenthal (2006) 
    40 Cal.4th 33
    , 40.) Defendants filed their motion under Code of
    Civil Procedure section 425.16 (section 425.16), commonly known
    as the anti-SLAPP statute.
    2
    matters. The agreement provided that Fraley’s services would be
    billed on an hourly basis and that Kessler would be invoiced
    monthly. The agreement included an arbitration clause
    applicable to any and all disputes between the parties arising
    under the agreement and a prevailing-party attorney fees
    provision.
    According to Fraley, soon after he began representing
    Kessler, she advised that she could not pay his monthly invoices
    when due. The parties therefore agreed that she would pay the
    overdue invoices from the proceeds she received on then-pending
    matters. As a result, Fraley represented Kessler for years
    without receiving any compensation from her.
    B.    The City Art Action3
    In May 2007, Fraley filed an action for Kessler against City
    Art, Inc. and others (collectively City Art) seeking damages and
    other relief “for conversion of [DK Art Publishing, Inc.’s] art.”
    After litigating that action for nearly seven years, Fraley
    obtained a judgment in favor of Kessler entitling her to more
    than $8 million in damages for lost or stolen art and repossession
    of approximately $5 million in consigned art.
    C.    Coverage Action and Assignment of Rights
    City Art tendered the defense of the City Art action to
    Travelers Property and Casualty Company of America and
    Fidelity Guarantee Insurance Underwriters, Inc. (collectively
    3     DK Art Publishing, Inc., et al. v. City Art, Inc., et al. (LASC
    case number BC370549).
    3
    Travelers) both of which initially denied coverage, but later
    agreed to defend the action under a reservation of rights. City
    Art then sued Travelers seeking a declaration of rights regarding
    Travelers’ defense and indemnity obligations and damages for
    insurance bad faith (coverage action).4
    Following entry of the judgment in the City Art action,
    Kessler and City Art entered into an agreement not to execute on
    the judgment in exchange for an assignment of City Art’s rights
    against Travelers in the coverage action. Following the
    assignment of rights, Kessler retained defendants to represent
    her in the coverage action.
    D.    Coverage Action Lien and Termination
    On October 29, 2013, Fraley filed a notice of attorney lien
    in the coverage action. The notice described Fraley’s rights under
    the retainer agreement to be paid all proceeds due to Kessler
    from matters on which he represented her5 and his lien rights
    with respect to all such proceeds. A dispute then arose between
    Fraley and Kessler over the amount of attorney fees due and
    Fraley’s lien rights to the proceeds from the City Art, coverage,
    and malpractice actions. In the fourth quarter of 2014, Kessler
    4    City Art, Inc., et al. v. Travelers Property and Casualty Co.
    of America, et al. (LASC case number BC445179).
    5     In addition to representing Kessler in the City Art action,
    Fraley also filed a notice of judgment lien on Kessler’s behalf in a
    legal malpractice action filed by City Arts against its former
    attorney (malpractice action), entitled City Art, Inc. et al. v.
    Azadegan et al. (LASC case number BC476405).
    4
    terminated Fraley’s services in relation to all matters on which
    he represented her under the retainer agreement.
    In late 2014, Fraley notified defendants that the total
    amount of his lien was $1,870,281.07 in principal and
    $1,391,097.41 in interest.
    E.    Settlement of the Coverage Action
    In January 2015, Kessler agreed to settle the coverage
    action with Travelers. In exchange for a release of all claims
    against Travelers and a dismissal of the coverage action,
    Travelers agreed to pay Kessler $6,460,000. The agreement
    provided that Travelers would make payment of the settlement
    amount as follows: (1) $5,160,000 would be paid to defendant
    “Ford & Serviss LLP;” (2) $1.3 million would be deposited in an
    escrow account designated by Kessler; and (3) $500,000 would be
    deposited by Kessler in the same escrow account from the
    anticipated settlement of the malpractice action. The agreement
    further provided that the “first moneys” from the escrow account
    would be used to satisfy Fraley’s lien, the amount and validity of
    which remained undetermined. Any funds left over after the
    extinguishment of Fraley’s lien were to be paid to Kessler.
    Kessler agreed to be responsible for the amount of the Fraley lien
    and to hold Travelers harmless from any obligations arising from
    the lien.
    In February 2015, pursuant to the terms of the coverage
    action settlement, defendants received a total of $5,160,000 from
    Travelers. From that amount, they paid themselves $1,660,000.
    In mid-March 2015, Fraley learned that the coverage action had
    been dismissed and suspected that it had settled. Approximately
    5
    one month later, on April 15, 2015, defendants disbursed the
    remaining $3,469,214.50 to Kessler. Defendants did not,
    however, notify Fraley that the coverage action had settled or
    that any money had been disbursed.
    F.    Collection Action Against Kessler
    In April 2016, Fraley initiated an arbitration proceeding
    against Kessler to recover amounts due under the retainer
    agreement. On September 6, 2017, the arbitrator issued an
    interim award in favor of Fraley for unpaid legal fees and costs
    incurred on Kessler matters in the amount of $1,868,179.85 and
    pre-award interest from February 13, 2015, through
    May 31, 2017, in the amount of $772,044.51, for a total interim
    award of $2,640,224.36. On September 14, 2017, Fraley received
    $1,299,990 from defendants, i.e., the amount that had been
    escrowed under the coverage action settlement to satisfy Fraley’s
    lien (less a $10 wire transfer charge).
    On January 23, 2018, the arbitrator issued a final award
    which added to the interim award $1,113,899.94 in attorney fees
    and costs incurred in the collection action and $52,490 in costs
    associated with arbitration. The final award also gave Kessler a
    $1,299,990 credit for the amount received by Fraley from the
    escrowed coverage settlement proceeds.
    On May 8, 2018, Fraley petitioned the trial court to confirm
    the arbitration award, and on July 9, 2018, the court entered a
    judgment in favor of Fraley that confirmed the final award, and
    added to it additional prejudgment interest and attorney fees, for
    a total damage award against Kessler of $2,921,413.41. The
    judgment also granted Fraley declaratory relief, including
    6
    declarations that Fraley’s attorney lien was valid and enforceable
    and applied to, among other matters, the proceeds from the
    coverage action settlement and the malpractice action settlement.
    III.   PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
    A.    The Instant Action
    On January 22, 2020, Fraley filed his complaint against
    defendants, asserting four causes of action: (1) conversion;
    (2) intentional interference with contract; (3) intentional
    interference with prospective economic advantage; and (4) aiding
    and abetting fraudulent transfers. Each cause of action was
    based on the same five alleged acts by defendants:
    “a.    enabling [Kessler] to enter into the [coverage action
    settlement] without regard to [Fraley’s l]ien against the [coverage
    action s]ettlement [p]roceeds and without compensating [Fraley]
    for [his] services in violation of [his l]ien;
    “b.    taking possession, custody, and control of the
    [coverage action s]ettlement [p]roceeds without regard to
    [Fraley’s l]ien against [those p]roceeds and without compensating
    [Fraley] for [his] services in violation of [his l]ien;
    “c.    distributing substantial portions of the [coverage
    action s]ettlement [p]roceeds to [Kessler] and to [defendants]
    without regard to [Fraley’s l]ien against [those p]roceeds and
    without compensating [Fraley] for [his] services in violation of
    [his l]ien;
    “d.    failing to hold or deliver to [Fraley] a sufficient
    amount from the [coverage s]ettlement [p]roceeds to discharge
    [Fraley’s l]ien in full, which enabled [Kessler] and[/or defendants]
    7
    to use and/or further transfer the [coverage action s]ettlement
    [p]roceeds without compensating [Fraley] for [his] services in
    violation of [his l]ien; and/or
    “e.   obtaining more favorable terms for the [coverage
    action s]ettlement, including, but not limited to, reducing the
    settlement amount in exchange for circumventing [Fraley’s l]ien
    against the [coverage action s]ettlement [p]roceeds, all without
    [Fraley’s] consent and contrary to [Fraley’s l]ien against the
    [coverage action s]ettlement [p]roceeds.”
    B.    Anti-SLAPP Motion
    On April 29, 2020, defendants filed a special motion to
    strike the entire complaint under section 425.16. Defendants’
    notice of motion advised that “[t]his [m]otion is made on the
    ground, among others, that the gravamen or principle thrust of
    the [c]omplaint[] is premised entirely on [d]efendants’ exercise of
    the ‘right of petition or free speech’ in connection with [the]
    settlement of a lawsuit and [the] distribution of the settlement
    funds to [Kessler].” (Italics added.)
    Defendants argued that the trial court must “examine the
    principal thrust or gravamen of a plaintiff’s cause of action” and
    “the principal thrust of each cause of action is that [defendants]
    deprived Fraley of the proceeds from the [c]overage [a]ction by
    settling [that action] and disbursing the settlement funds.”
    Defendants listed the five acts by defendants that allegedly
    supported liability on each cause of action and concluded that
    those “activities all undisputedly all [arose] from protected
    activity. Thus, . . . [d]efendants have satisfied their burden on
    prong one.”
    8
    On the issue of whether Fraley could show a probability of
    prevailing on his claims, defendants argued, among other things,
    that the litigation privilege in Civil Code section 47,
    subdivision (b), barred each of Fraley’s claims.
    Fraley opposed the motion arguing, as relevant on appeal,
    that the gravamen of his claims against defendants was not their
    statements made during the coverage action settlement
    negotiations, but rather their separate conduct in disbursing the
    settlement funds after the coverage action was dismissed.
    Because that disbursement was independent conduct that was
    not protected activity under the anti-SLAPP statute, Fraley
    maintained that defendants had failed to carry their burden
    under the first prong of that statute. As to prong two, Fraley
    argued that he could establish a prima facie case for his causes of
    action and that the litigation privilege did not apply to the
    impairment of attorney liens.
    C.    Trial Court’s Ruling
    On September 4, 2020, the trial court held a hearing on
    defendants’ motion and took the matter under submission. On
    September 11, 2020, the court issued a final ruling granting the
    motion and finding that the protected activity—negotiation of the
    settlement agreement—was “at the heart of [Fraley’s] claims.”
    According to the court, the allegations concerning the
    disbursement of the settlement funds without reserving sufficient
    amounts to cover Fraley’s lien “would not have been possible
    without the negotiation, drafting, and execution of the [coverage
    action] settlement agreement. Thus, the settlement agreement is
    not ‘merely “incidental”’ to the wrongful conduct. [Citation.] The
    9
    entry into, and the effectuation of, the settlement agreement form
    ‘the fundamental factual basis for the claim[s].’” [Citation.]”
    On Fraley’s probability of prevailing on his claims, the trial
    court found, among other things, that Fraley’s “claims based on
    [defendants’] negotiating, drafting, and executing the settlement
    agreement [were] protected by the litigation privilege.” The court
    granted the special motion to strike the entire complaint.
    Following the order striking the complaint, Fraley filed a
    November 9, 2020, notice of appeal from the trial court’s order
    granting the special motion to strike and defendants’ respective
    memoranda of costs.
    On October 9, 2020, defendants6 filed a motion for an
    award of attorney fees, and the trial court granted the motion,
    awarding defendants costs and $75,651.50 in attorney fees. On
    December 29, 2020, the court entered a judgment in favor of
    defendants on the orders granting the special motion to strike
    and awarding fees and costs. Fraley timely appealed from the
    judgment and we consolidated that appeal with his earlier appeal
    from the order striking the complaint.
    IV.   DISCUSSION
    A.    The Anti-SLAPP Procedure
    “[The anti-SLAPP] statute authorizes a special motion to
    strike a claim “arising from any act . . . in furtherance of the
    [plaintiff’s] right of petition or free speech under the United
    States Constitution or the California Constitution in connection
    6      Defendants Beitchman & Zekian and David Beitchman did
    not file a fee motion.
    10
    with a public issue.” (§ 425.16, subd. (b)(1).)’ (Wilson [v. Cable
    News Network, Inc. (2019)] 7 Cal.5th [871,] 883–884.) [¶]
    Litigation of an anti-SLAPP motion involves a two-step process.
    First, ‘the moving defendant bears the burden of establishing
    that the challenged allegations or claims “aris[e] from” protected
    activity in which the defendant has engaged.’ (Park [v. Board of
    Trustees of California State University (2017)] 2 Cal.5th [1057,]
    1061.) Second, for each claim that does arise from protected
    activity, the plaintiff must show the claim has ‘at least “minimal
    merit.’” (Ibid.) If the plaintiff cannot make this showing, the
    court will strike the claim.” (Bonni v. St. Joseph Health System
    (2021) 
    11 Cal.5th 995
    , 1009 (Bonni).)
    “At the first step, the moving defendant bears the burden of
    identifying all allegations of protected activity, and the claims for
    relief supported by them. When relief is sought based on
    allegations of both protected and unprotected activity, the
    unprotected activity is disregarded at this stage. If the court
    determines that relief is sought based on allegations arising from
    activity protected by the statute, the second step is reached.
    There, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to demonstrate that each
    challenged claim based on protected activity is legally sufficient
    and factually substantiated. The court, without resolving
    evidentiary conflicts, must determine whether the plaintiff’s
    showing, if accepted by the trier of fact, would be sufficient to
    sustain a favorable judgment. If not, the claim is stricken.
    Allegations of protected activity supporting the stricken claim are
    eliminated from the complaint, unless they also support a distinct
    claim on which the plaintiff has shown a probability of
    prevailing.” (Baral v. Schnitt (2016) 
    1 Cal.5th 376
    , 396 (Baral).)
    We review an order granting or denying an anti-SLAPP motion
    11
    de novo. (Park v. Board of Trustees of California State University
    (2017) 
    2 Cal.5th 1057
    , 1067 (Park).)
    B.    First-Prong
    Fraley contends that defendants failed to satisfy their first-
    prong burden to “specifically identify ‘all allegations of protected
    activity, and the claims for relief supported by those allegations.’”
    (Quoting Baral, supra, 1 Cal.5th at p. 396.) Because defendants
    instead focused on the “gravamen or principal thrust of the
    [c]omplaint”—without assessing each allegation of actionable
    conduct in the context of the cause of action it supported—Fraley
    maintains they failed to demonstrate that each of his causes of
    action was predicated entirely on protected activity.
    “A claim arises from protected activity when that activity
    underlies or forms the basis for the claim. [Citations.] Critically,
    ‘the defendant’s act underlying the plaintiff’s cause of action must
    itself have been an act in furtherance of the right of petition or
    free speech.’ [Citations.] ‘[T]he mere fact that an action was filed
    after protected activity took place does not mean the action arose
    from that activity for the purposes of the anti-SLAPP statute.’
    [Citations.] Instead, the focus is on determining what ‘the
    defendant’s activity [is] that gives rise to his or her asserted
    liability—and whether that activity constitutes protected speech
    or petitioning.’ [Citation.] ‘The only means specified in section
    425.16 by which a moving defendant can satisfy the [“arising
    from”] requirement is to demonstrate that the defendant’s
    conduct by which plaintiff claims to have been injured falls within
    one of the four categories described in subdivision (e) . . . .’
    [Citation.]” (Park, supra, 2 Cal.5th at pp. 1062–1063.)
    12
    “Assertions that are ‘merely incidental’ or ‘collateral’ are not
    subject to section 425.16. [Citations.] Allegations of protected
    activity that merely provide context, without supporting a claim
    for recovery, cannot be stricken under the anti-SLAPP statute.”
    (Baral, supra, 1 Cal.5th at p. 394.)
    Fraley’s complaint presented causes of action based on five
    separate alleged wrongful acts and, as such, was subject to the
    first-prong procedures outlined in Baral, supra, 
    1 Cal.5th 376
    .
    To the extent Fraley contends that the order striking his
    complaint should be reversed because defendants failed at the
    outset to identify adequately the specific protected activity they
    sought to strike, we disagree. Contrary to Fraley’s assertion,
    defendants’ motion identified the five separate acts alleged by
    Fraley in support of each of his causes of action. Defendants also
    asserted that all of those actions—albeit only when viewed as
    part of one, unified transaction—were wrongful and constituted
    protected activity.
    We therefore consider whether defendants met their first
    prong burden to demonstrate that each claim they sought to
    strike arose from one or more of the following five acts in
    furtherance of protected activity: (1) enabling Kessler
    (presumably through negotiation and drafting) to settle the
    coverage action without regard to the lien; (2) taking possession
    of the settlement proceeds without paying off the lien;
    (3) disbursing the settlement proceeds (to themselves and
    Kessler) without paying off the lien; (4) failing to withhold
    sufficient funds from the Kessler disbursement to discharge the
    lien; and (5) obtaining for Kessler more favorable terms from
    Travelers, including Travelers’ agreement to circumvent the lien
    13
    in exchange for her agreement to a reduction in the settlement
    amount.
    We conclude that alleged acts one and five, enabling
    Kessler to consummate the settlement and assisting her in
    obtaining favorable terms, were in furtherance of protected
    activity. Each is based on defendants’ conduct in either advising
    Kessler on the settlement or in negotiating, drafting, and
    executing the agreement. Such conduct is protected under
    section 425.16. (Navellier v. Sletten (2002) 
    29 Cal.4th 82
    , 90
    [“negotiation and execution of [a release], . . . involved
    ‘statement[s] or writing[s] made in connection with an issue
    under consideration or review by a . . . judicial body’ (§ 425.16,
    subd. (e)(2))”]; GeneThera, Inc. v. Troy & Gould Professional
    Corp. (2009) 
    171 Cal.App.4th 901
    , 908 [cause of action based on
    law firm’s communication of settlement offer “a matter connected
    with issues under consideration or review by a judicial body”].)
    As to alleged act two, taking possession of the settlement
    funds, we note that the very nature of this act necessarily
    followed the negotiation and execution of the coverage action
    settlement agreement, which agreement described how Travelers
    would disburse the funds. Moreover, the complaint’s description
    of how defendants came to possess such funds provided context
    for how defendants later chose to handle them. As such, alleged
    act two is the type of activity that is collateral and provides
    context to the allegations in the complaint and therefore does not
    support a claim that can be stricken under the anti-SLAPP
    statute. (Baral, supra, 1 Cal.5th at p. 396.)
    Finally, as to alleged acts three and four—disbursing funds
    without either paying off Fraley’s lien or withholding sufficient
    funds to discharge it—we conclude they are not acts in
    14
    furtherance of protected activity. Defendants’ allegedly wrongful
    disbursement was not required under the payment terms of the
    settlement and, thus, was only tangentially related to a matter
    under consideration by a judicial body. Moreover, the coverage
    action litigation in which defendants represented Kessler was
    dismissed prior to defendants making the challenged
    disbursement to Kessler, thereby rendering the connection
    between that act and defendants’ right of petition too attenuated
    to warrant protection under section 425.16. (See Trilogy
    Plumbing, Inc. v. Navigators Specialty Ins. Co. (2020) 
    50 Cal.App.5th 920
    , 925 [the fact that “conduct underlying [the
    plaintiff’s] claims is related to pending litigation is insufficient to
    confer protected activity status under section 425.16, subdivision
    (e)(2);” conduct “must arise from the litigation to be protected”].)
    In reaching our conclusion that the alleged acts of
    disbursement fall outside the protection of the anti-SLAPP
    statute, we acknowledge the arguably contrary holding in O&C
    Creditors Group, LLC v. Stephens & Stephens XII, LLC (2019) 
    42 Cal.App.5th 546
     (O&C Creditors) on which defendants primarily
    rely. In that case, which was decided before the Supreme Court’s
    recent decision in Bonni, supra, 11 Cal.5th at page 995, the court
    reviewed the mixed causes of action before it, using a “gravamen”
    or “principal thrust” approach. It concluded that because the
    plaintiff’s claims were based on the negotiation and execution of a
    settlement, the separate allegations concerning the wrongful
    disbursement of settlement funds could not be “neatly cleaved”
    from the protected alleged acts relating to the settlement
    agreement. (O&C Creditors, supra, 42 Cal.App.5th at p. 580.)
    Such a “gravamen” or “principal thrust” approach, however, has
    15
    since been disapproved by our Supreme Court in Bonni, supra, 11
    Cal.5th at page 1010.
    Further, even if the court in O&C Creditors had not applied
    the “gravamen” or “principal thrust” approach, the facts of the
    instant case are distinguishable from those at issue there. The
    alleged acts of disbursement here were not required by the terms
    of the settlement agreement. Instead, the agreement provided
    that Travelers would pay the disputed funds to defendants, who
    made no commitment under the agreement as to how they would
    handle those funds once received (other than to assure Travelers
    that Kessler would protect Fraley’s lien rights). Defendants
    therefore had independent discretion concerning the timing and
    amounts of any disbursements to Kessler. Indeed, under the
    terms of the settlement, defendants were free to withhold all or
    some portion of the funds in trust or to disburse them using a
    check or wire transfer made jointly payable to Kessler and
    Fraley. Their act of disbursing the funds to Kessler only, and
    without withholding any amount, was sufficiently independent of
    their conduct directly related to the coverage action to support a
    conclusion that the disbursement was not in furtherance of the
    right of petition.
    Because defendants did not meet their burden of
    demonstrating that the second, third, and fourth alleged acts
    were in furtherance of protected activity, claims based upon those
    acts could not be stricken from the complaint. The order striking
    the entire complaint must therefore be reversed.
    16
    C.    Prong Two
    In considering the second prong of the anti-SLAPP
    analysis, we must determine whether claims based on the first
    and fifth alleged acts, those acts which we have concluded were
    undertaken in furtherance of protected activity, are nevertheless
    barred by the litigation privilege.
    The litigation privilege set forth at Civil Code section 47,
    subdivision (b) “applies ‘to any communication (1) made in
    judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings; (2) by litigants or other
    participants authorized by law; (3) to achieve the objects of the
    litigation; and (4) that have some connection or logical relation to
    the action.’ [Citation.] The privilege is ‘absolute in nature,
    applying “to all publications, irrespective of their maliciousness.”’
    [Citation.] ‘“Any doubt about whether the privilege applies is
    resolved in favor of applying it.”’” (Optional Capital, Inc. v. Akin
    Gump Strauss, Hauer & Feld (2017) 
    18 Cal.App.5th 95
    , 116.)
    Although Fraley argues that the litigation privilege does
    not apply to the separate, noncommunicative conduct of
    disbursing the settlement funds, he does not address whether the
    privilege bars the conduct under review here—enabling Kessler,
    through the drafting and negotiation of the settlement
    agreement, to settle around Fraley’s lien and obtaining on her
    behalf, more favorable terms, including Travelers’ agreement to
    circumvent the lien. We conclude these alleged acts were
    communicative in nature, undertaken to achieve the legitimate
    objects of the coverage action, and sufficiently connected or
    logically related to that action. They are therefore protected
    under the litigation privilege and should be stricken from each of
    the causes of action as an independent bases for liability.
    17
    D.   Attorney Fee and Cost Awards
    The trial court’s awards of attorney fees and costs were
    based on the order striking the entire complaint. Because we are
    reversing that order and remanding the matter with directions,
    we also must reverse the attorney fee and cost awards and
    remand those matters to the court for further proceedings
    consistent with this opinion. We express no opinion on whether
    attorney fees should be awarded and, if so, in what amount.
    18
    V.    DISPOSITION
    The order striking the complaint is reversed and the matter
    is remanded with directions to: (1) enter a new order on the anti-
    SLAPP motion striking from the causes of action only the
    allegations of protected activity identified above, in part IV. C.
    concerning the litigation privilege; and (2) conduct further
    proceedings on defendants’ requests for attorney fees and costs in
    light of the new order on the special motion to strike. No costs
    are awarded on appeal.
    NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
    KIM, J.
    We concur:
    RUBIN, P. J.
    MOOR, J.
    19
    

Document Info

Docket Number: B309029

Filed Date: 5/6/2022

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 5/6/2022