Litigation
Jul. 24, 2013
The fine line between a demand letter and criminal extortion
A recent case illustrates the extreme narrowness of the "illegality doctrine" in distinguishing a pre-litigation demand letter from a criminally extortionate letter. By James Moneer
The "illegality as a matter of law" doctrine, expounded by our high court in Flatley v Mauro, 39 Cal. 4th 299 (2006), is perhaps the most overused and abused exemption from anti-SLAPP motions. While illegality can be a lifesaver for plaintiffs in those rare cases where it is an appropriate bar to a SLAPP motion, very often, illegality ends up being the typical SLAPP plaintiff's argument of last resort but ultimately unavailing...
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