RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

March 2005

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Citizens’ Petition to Compel City to Process Coastal Development Permit Is Not a SLAPP Suit despite Pending Appeal of State-Adopted Local Coastal Plan
Visher v. City of Malibu, ___Cal.App.4th___

The Second District Court of Appeal recently upheld a Los Angeles County Superior Court’s decision denying the City of Malibu’s motion to strike as a SLAPP suit a citizens’ petition for writ of mandate seeking to force the city to process their coastal development permit. The Court of Appeal also upheld the trial court’s award of $35,000 in attorneys’ fees to the Vishers on the ground that the city’s motion to strike under the anti-SLAPP statutes was frivolous and made in bad faith.