1 Jason Schultz, Esq. (SBN 212600)
[email protected] Corynne McSherry, Esq. (SBN 221504)
[email protected] 2 ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 454 Shotwell Street 3 San Francisco, CA 94110 Telephone: (415) 436-9333 x108 4 Facsimile: (415) 436-9993 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 JEFFREY DIEHL 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 OAKLAND DIVISION 10 11 JEFFREY DIEHL, ) No. 06-CV-6800 SBA 12 ) ) 13 Plaintiff, MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND ) AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF v. ) 14 ) PLAINTIFF’S SPECIAL MOTION TO ) STRIKE PURSUANT TO CAL. CIV. 15 MICHAEL CROOK, ) PROC. CODE § 425.16 ) 16 Defendant. ) Date: March 27, 2007 ) Time: 1:00 p.m. 17 ______________________________________ ) Dept.: Courtroom 3, 3rd Floor, Oakland Judge: Hon. Saundra B. Armstrong 18 19 Trial Date: Not yet set 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES……………………………………………………………………….iii INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………..1 3 STATEMENT OF FACTS………………………………………………………………………….2 4 1. Parties………………………………………………………………………………..2 5 2. Background………………………………………………………………………….3 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT……………………………………………………………………10 6 ARGUMENT………………………………………………………………………………………11 7 I. Crooks Counterclaim Violates the California Anti-SLAPP Statute……………….. 8 A. Crooks Emotional Distress Claim is Entirely Based on First Amendment Protected Activities……………………………………………………………. 9 1. Publishing the Crook Articles are Protected Activities……………… 10 2. Reporting the Lawsuit and Posting the Complaint are Protected Activities…………………………………………………………….. 11 3. Publishing the “Call for Evidence” is a Protected Activity…………. 12 B. Crook Cannot Succeed on His Emotional Distress Claim…………………….. 1. The First Amendment Fully Protects all of Diehl’s Publications from 13 IIED Claims…………………………………………………………. 14 2.