COURT OF APPEAL AFFIRMS JUDGMENT OF DISMISSAL IN FAVOR OF PUBLIC ENTITY CLIENT

The Court of Appeal of the State of California for the Sixth Appellate District affirmed a judgment of dismissal in favor of defendant Board of Trustees of the California State University (“CSU”) and a number of individual employee defendants following the trial court’s granting of defendants’ anti-SLAPP motion and sustaining of defendants’ demurrer. The Court of Appeal held that the plaintiff, a professor at San Jose State University, had forfeited his appeal of the anti-SLAPP ruling because he did not file the notice of appeal within sixty days from notice of the order granting that motion. The Court of Appeal also held that the demurrer was properly sustained because, among other reasons, the plaintiff had not complied with the pre-lawsuit notice provision of the California Government Code. Former partner GayLynn Kirn Conant and current partner Maria Lampasona handled the appeal, which resulted in the unpublished decision. Onkvisit v. De La Mere, Court of Appeal Case No. H044038, Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No. 115CV279005.