The Upper Deck Co. v. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
In this litigation, plaintiff The Upper Deck Company, et al. (collectively Upper Deck) filed a complaint alleging defendant Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (Attorney) committed legal malpractice when providing services to Upper Deck. In response, Attorney filed a cross-complaint seeking recovery of its outstanding fees. As a fifth cause of action, Attorney pleaded a claim for unfair business practices, alleging Upper Deck had a pattern and practice of hiring law firms without the intent to pay the fees and, after incurring significant fees, claiming malpractice as a pretext to avoid paying the fees.
Upper Deck moved to strike the unfair business practices claim, as well as the other claims in the complaint, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, commonly referred to as the anti SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute. (Equilon Enterprises v. Consumer Cause, Inc. (2002) 29 Cal.4th 53, 57.) The trial court denied Upper Deck's motion and this appeal followed.
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