Lichter v. Martin



















Filed 10/7/10 Lichter v. Martin CA2/8

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>NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

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California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts
and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or
ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for
publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115 >.







IN
THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA



SECOND
APPELLATE DISTRICT



DIVISION
EIGHT




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STUART LICHTER et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. LEONARD J. MARTIN, Defendant and Respondent.

B213449 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VC051486)

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles
County. Raul A.
Sahagun, Judge. Affirmed.



Fainsbert Mase & Snyder and
David S. White for Plaintiffs and Appellants.



Law Offices of Herb Fox and Herb Fox
for Defendant and Respondent.



_________________________

Appellants
Stuart Lichter, Downey Studios, LLC, Industrial Realty Group, LLC and S.L.
Properties, Inc. appeal from an order granting an anti-SLAPP motion[1]
against their complaint for defamation. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Appellants
own and control a large portfolio of industrial and commercial real estate,
including a parcel of land located in Downey, California
known as Downey Landing. Appellants
specialize in converting brownfield sites and superfund sites into other
uses. In November 2007, appellants were
awarded the Phoenix award for their
transformation of Downey Landing into a productive new use. While Downey Landing currently has a
commercial retail center, a Kaiser-Permanent hospital and Downey Studios, it
had previously been the site of a NASA/Boeing facility.

Downey
Studios is managed by appellants and functions as an independent film facility
in Los Angeles with 80 acres of
indoor and outdoor production space. In
2004 and 2005, Downey Studios leased a portion of its premises to DreamWorks
Productions for a film called â€