Anti-SLAPP statutes allow defendants who are sued based on their speech on matters of public concern to quickly challenge the sufficiency of plaintiffs' claims. They are important tools in fighting legally meritless libel suits and other attempts to restrict legally protected speech. But they only apply to claims that are indeed based on such speech, and not claims that are based on non-speech conduct.
A short excerpt from yesterday's long opinion by California Court of Appeal Justice Allison Danner, joined by Justices Mary Greenwood and Daniel Bromberg, in Khalil v. Steiner, applies this distinction. The plaintiffs—a young woman, her apparently 13-year-old sister, and their sister-in-law—"constructed a 'Free Palestine' sign out of shrubs and seaweed on a sand dune near Sand City known as 'Scribble Hill,'" where it was visible from Highway 1 and the pedestrian path below the dune. Defendant, "who was cycling on the path, stopped his bicycle, climbed the dune, and began dismantling the sign while engaging in a heated verbal exchange with the young women."
Each side accused the other of "supporting terrorism," and the women began recording the encounter on a cell phone. They retreated down the dune and kicked sand on Steiner's bicycle. Steiner followed, grabbed the cell phone …—allegedly also grabbing and restraining [one of the plaintiffs] in the process—and threw the phone toward the street, breaking it. After Steiner departed, plaintiffs reported the incident to the police and posted an edited version of the cell phone video to their social media.
Plaintiffs sued Steiner asserting causes of action for negligence, assault, battery, and violations of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act (Bane Act) (Civ. Code, § 52.1) and the Ralph Civil Rights Act (Ralph Act) (Civ. Code, § 51.7). Steiner brought an anti-SLAPP motion to strike the complaint ….
