The California Court of Appeal for the 2nd District issued a decision throwing out a defamation suit that appears to be a blatant SLAPP. In this case, a university accused a news broadcasting company of defaming them over a news program the company ran entitled “Degree Factory Confers Doctorate Degrees even to Persons who Plagiarize.” Because no anti-SLAPP motion was filed in the case, it dragged on from January 2008 – October 2011, until the Court of Appeal ultimately ruled that the speech was constitutionally protected. If an anti-SLAPP motion had been filed, the case could have been dismissed much earlier and at a fraction of the cost, as the defendant could have gotten their attorneys’ fees paid for.
Read the full decision, Yuin University v. Korean Broadcasting System, here:
http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/mainCaseScreen.cfm?dist=2&doc_id=1953991&doc_no=B226977&search=number&start=1&query_caseNumber=B226977