UCL Claim Survives SLAPP Challenge
Today the Court of Appeal ordered publication of Rezec v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Jan. 27, 2004), in which the UCL claim was based on fake movie reviews by a fictitious film critic that were "quoted" in advertisements for defendant's movies. The majority affirmed denial of the SLAPP motion, finding that the advertisements were non-protected commercial speech. Thus, the majority did not decide whether plaintiffs had made a sufficient showing on the merits, the next step in analyzing a SLAPP motion. The dissent called the lawsuit "the most frivolous case with which I have ever had to deal" (emphasis in original) and expressed the view that no reasonable consumer would ever be misled by the falsely quoted reviews. "[M]oviegoers," the dissent concluded, "are not such morons."
- posted by Kim Kralowec @ 5:57 PM