DRI member David L. Brandon, a partner at Morris Polich & Purdy LLP in Los Angeles, obtained two defense victories recently. In the first case, the trial court granted a motion to strike a complaint based on California's anti-SLAPP statute. In the second, the appellate court affirmed a defense summary judgment and defense attorney fee award.
In the first case, the plaintiff sued her neighbors for building a home that she claimed would impair her view, despite the fact that the Homeowners’ Association had approved the construction plans. The plaintiff then amended her complaint to sue the neighbors' architect, claiming that he had misrepresented the height of the house at the HOA hearing and in declarations submitted in opposition to the plaintiff's request for injunctive relief. Mr. Brandon represented the architect and obtained an order from the San Diego Superior Court striking the complaint on the ground that the architect's testimony, both in the court and before the HOA, was an exercise of the architect's First Amendment right of free speech.
In the second case, Mr. Brandon obtained an order from the California Court of Appeal affirming a grant of summary judgment that he had previously obtained from the Los Angeles Superior Court. The plaintiffs were former directors of a mutual water company who, after being recalled by the shareholders, sued the water company and its successor directors and officers for a variety of claims, including alleged mismanagement of the water supply and forgery. The Court of Appeal not only affirmed the summary judgment, but also affirmed an award of $250,000 in attorney fees that Mr. Brandon had obtained after the judgment was entered.
