Grant Of Landlords’ Anti-SLAPP Motion Against Tenant Reversed.

Landlords filed an unlawful detainer action, dismissing it prior to trial purportedly due to the unavailability of an essential witness. The tenant filed an action for nuisance, negligence, and intentional and negligent interference with contract. The trial court granted the landlords’ anti-SLAPP motion because the filing of an unlawful detainer action is a protected activity. The appellate court reversed in part because the tenant’s pleading alleged that the landlords were trying to evict her because she did not pay an illegal rent increase which was in violation of Los Angeles Municipal Code section 151.04.A [a rent control ordinance]. The appellate court stated the landlords “failed to meet their burden of showing that the basis of this cause of action is an act in furtherance of their constitutional right to petition or free speech . . . in other words, [the landlords] were not sued for their conduct in exercising their constitutional rights but for the underlying conduct of illegally raising [the tenant’s] rent.” Oviedo v. Windsor Twelve Properties (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 3; December 18, 2012) 212 Cal.App.4th 97.