Takhar v. People ex rel. Feather River AQMD, No. C082021 (D3 Sept. 11, 2018)
If you respond to an enforcement action brought by your regulator by bringing a counterclaim under Code of Civil Procedure § 526a, alleging that the action constitutes waste, you’re going to have an anti-SLAPP issue. You are literally suing someone for investigating and suing you. That’s protected activity. And so long as the enforcement is colorable—it’s not, for instance, under an obviously unenforceable statute—there’s no waste, so you can’t succeed either. Which is what happened here.
Reversed.
If you respond to an enforcement action brought by your regulator by bringing a counterclaim under Code of Civil Procedure § 526a, alleging that the action constitutes waste, you’re going to have an anti-SLAPP issue. You are literally suing someone for investigating and suing you. That’s protected activity. And so long as the enforcement is colorable—it’s not, for instance, under an obviously unenforceable statute—there’s no waste, so you can’t succeed either. Which is what happened here.
Reversed.
