Perry v. Topping [1]

Summary

Threat Type:

Lawsuit

Date:

08/07/2006

Status:

Concluded

Disposition:

Withdrawn

Location:

California

Verdict or Settlement Amount:

N/A

Legal Claims:

Defamation

Publication of Private Facts

Los Angeles citizen James Perry sued Tom Topping for libel and invasion of privacy after Topping published an article stating that the Los Angeles City Attorney had determined that Perry had violated various conflict of interest laws while serving as a... read full description

Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat:

Tom Topping, dba Boulevard Sentinel, Topping Publishing, and Boulevard Sentinel.com

Type of Party:

Individual

Type of Party:

Individual

Location of Party:

California

Location of Party:

California

Legal Counsel:

Pro se (trial level); Joshua N. Levine (Dongell Lawrence Finney Claypool) (on appeal)

Legal Counsel:

Camilo Echavarria (Davis Wright Tremaine) (trial level); Pro se (on appeal)

Description

Soon after filing his complaint in California state court, Perry moved to withdraw his claims because he was too ill to litigate his own case. A few days later, Topping moved to strike Perry's claims under California's anti-SLAPP laws. The court granted Perry's motion to withdraw his claims, rendering Topping's motion moot.

Topping then moved for an award of attorney's fees, claiming that he was entitled to them as a prevailing party under the anti-SLAPP statute. The court denied Topping's motion, ruling that because Perry voluntarily withdrew the suit before Topping's motion to strike, Topping did not prevail as required by the statute.

Topping appealed, but the California Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling. Topping then appealed to the California Supreme Court, but the Court declined to consider the case.

Details

Web Site(s) Involved:

Boulevard Sentinel [2]

Content Type:

Text

Publication Medium:

Website

Subject Area:

Defamation
SLAPP

Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction:

California

Source of Law:

California

Court Name:

Los Angeles County Superior Court; California Court of Appeals for the Second Appellate District

Court Type:

State

Case Number:

BC356548 (trial); B197522 (appeals); S161156 (Supreme)

Relevant Documents:

2007-02-08-Topping's Appellate Brief.pdf [3]

2007-10-18-Perry's Appellate Brief.pdf [4]

2007-11-20-Topping's Response to Perry's Appellate Brief.pdf [5]

CMLP Information (Private)

Priority:

1-High

CMLP Notes:

Available on Westlaw, 2008 WL 204219.

Comments

Topping loses Supreme Court review [6]

Defendant Topping also appealled the Appellate Court ruling against him to the California Supreme Court. His petition for review was rejected by the Supreme Court.

As a correction to the report posted August 18th, 2008 by Matt C. Sanchez, Plaintiff Perry is not an attorney.

Thanks [7]

Updated. Thanks for the info.