Diamond Ranch Academy, Inc. v. Filer

117 F. Supp. 3d 1313, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2281, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75198, 2015 WL 3618278
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedJune 9, 2015
DocketCase No. 2:14-CV-751-TC
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 117 F. Supp. 3d 1313 (Diamond Ranch Academy, Inc. v. Filer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Diamond Ranch Academy, Inc. v. Filer, 117 F. Supp. 3d 1313, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2281, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75198, 2015 WL 3618278 (D. Utah 2015).

Opinion

ORDER AND MEMORANDUM DECISION

TENA CAMPBELL, District Judge.

..Plaintiff Diamond Ranch Academy, Inc. (DRA), a youth treatment and rehabilitation facility in southern Utah, brings this defamation action against Defendant Chelsea Filer, a California resident who has [1316]*1316created a website (and made other statements) highly critical of DRA. Ms. Filer has filed a Special Motion to Strike DRA’s amended complaint under the California anti-SLAPP2 statute.3 In response, DRA filed a Motion to Stay Briefing on the Special Motion to Strike pending discovery.4

During a status conference, threshold issues arose concerning which forum’s law to apply (not only state versus state, but state versus federal). Based on that discussion, the court ordered the parties to file briefs addressing the choice of law issues, including whether it is necessary to conduct discovery before the court rules on the special motion to strike.

Based on the court’s review of the briefs filed in this case, relevant case law, and evidence already in the record, the court finds that discovery is not necessary because the record is sufficient to complete the choice of law analysis. The court further holds, for the reasons set forth below, that (1) neither the California nor the Utah state anti-SLAPP statutes conflict with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (2) Utah’s and California’s anti-SLAPP statutes materially conflict; and (3) California has the most significant relationship to the immunity issue raised by Ms. Filer in her Special Motion to Strike.

BACKGROUND

DRA filed this diversity suit raising defamation-based claims of libel, libel per se, slander, slander per se, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, against Chelsea Filer. Ms. Filer, who attended a residential youth treatment center years ago (but not DRA’s facility), has become an advocate for youth who are sent to such treatment centers. She has been highly critical of DRA, and as part of her campaign against DRA, she started a website called www.drasurvivors. com. DRA alleges that statements she made on the website are defamatory. In ■addition, DRA alleges that Ms. Filer made defamatory statements about DRA on Fa-cebook pages, blogs, and other media, both in writing and orally. (Am. Compl. (Dkt. No. 23) ¶ 10.)

Ms. Filer raises a defense under the California Anti-SLAPP statute. Cal. Civ.Proc.Code § 425.15 to § 425.18 (West 2015). Anti-SLAPP laws, which have been enacted in many states, provide conditional immunity (or grant a privilege) for statements made about issues of public concern, typically in the context of petitioning the government. They are “designed to protect the defendant from having to litigate meritless claims aimed at chilling First Amendment expression....” Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018, 1025 (9th Cir.2003). See also Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 425.16 (West 2015) (“The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the public interest to encourage continued participation in matters of public significance, and that this participation should not be chilled through abuse of the judicial process.”).

Ms. Filer has filed a Special Motion to Strike the Complaint, a procedural requirement of the California anti-SLAPP statute.5 The California anti-SLAPP stat[1317]*1317ute typically requires a plaintiff alleging defamation to establish, without the benefit of discovery, a probability that he or she will prevail on the claims. CaLCiv. Proe.Code § 425.16(b)(2). The parties have not yet conducted discovery.

In response, DRA has filed a motion to stay briefing on the motion to strike pending discovery. DRA contends that California’s anti-SLAPP law is a procedural statute that may not be applied in federal court because it conflicts with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. DRA alternatively contends that even if the court finds that either California’s or Utah’s anti-SLAPP statute is applicable in this federal diversity action, DRA is entitled to discovery before the court considers the merit of Ms. Filer’s claim to immunity from suit for defamation.

DRA’s motion to stay raises two threshold questions. The first is whether the anti-SLAPP laws conflict with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The second question (assuming the answer to the first question is no) is whether California or Utah law applies to the anti-SLAPP issues raised by Ms. Filer. As part of the second query, the court must also address DRA’s claim that it needs to conduct discovery before the court decides the choice of law question.

ANALYSIS

1. The Anti-SLAPP Statute Does Not Conflict With Federal Law.

DRA contends that California’s anti-SLAPP6 statute is procedural7 and directly conflicts with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. According to DRA, the court, sitting in diversity jurisdiction, must deny the Special Motion to Strike under the Erie doctrine. The Erie Doctrine, announced in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins,8 requires a court sitting in diversity to “apply state substantive law and federal procedural law.” Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 465, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965). See also Shady Grove Orthopedic Assocs. v. Allstate Ins., 559 U.S. 393, 130 S.Ct. 1431, 176 L.Ed.2d 311 (2010) (if the federal rule addresses the dispute and the state law is procedural, not substantive, the federal rule applies).9

In particular, DRA asserts that the anti-SLAPP statute’s default rule (to quickly resolve the question of immunity without [1318]*1318discovery) directly conflicts with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(d), which grants DRA a right to conduct discovery before the court engages in a summary judgment analysis. DRA characterizes the motion to strike as a Rule 56 motion for summary judgment because the motion is accompanied by declarations. It then point's to Rule 56(d), which allows a court to stay a decision on the motion for summary judgment to allow discovery if certain circumstances are met: “If a nonmov-ant shows by affidavit or declaration that, for specified reasons, it cannot present facts essential to justify its opposition, the court may: (1) defer considering the motion or deny it; (2) allow time to obtain affidavits or declarations or to take discovery; or (3) issue any other appropriate order.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(d).

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Bluebook (online)
117 F. Supp. 3d 1313, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2281, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75198, 2015 WL 3618278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diamond-ranch-academy-inc-v-filer-utd-2015.