Jon Schwalbach wins anti-SLAPP motion
Jon Schwalbach prevailed in an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss a malicious prosecution claim against his client, a lawyer. Owners of an apartment building (the plaintiffs) argued that Jon’s client pursued habitability claims against them in bad faith without any factual or legal basis. In his winning brief, Jon pointed out that his client beat a summary judgment motion in the underlying case, which he used as strong proof that his client pursued the case with probable cause. Jon showed that every claim his client pursued in the habitability case had factual and legal support, and he did not litigate the case with an improper motive. After several stages of briefing and two rounds of oral arguments, the court granted Jon’s anti-SLAPP motion.
Jon convinced the judge that the lawsuit against his client was nothing more than an act of retaliation. Understanding how and why the anti-SLAPP statute applies, Jon was able to dismiss a meritless lawsuit against his client at the earliest stage and obtain a mandatory fee award.