Tag Archives: Dean
Update on Dean v. NBC Cases
It has been a few weeks since I checked in on the Dean v. NBC cases. As you may recall, after significant briefing on the anti-SLAPP statute in the Superior Court, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their suit there because they had refiled it in federal court (where Judge Wilkins and Judge Leon had held (here and here) that the anti-SLAPP statute was inapplicable).
Federal Judge Stays Duplicative Dean v. NBC Action Until Resolution of Parallel Superior Court Case
Judge Leon today stayed the federal court case captioned Dean v. NBC until the previously-filed and pending Superior Court action between the same parties is resolved. The Court’s order reads: MINUTE ORDER granting nunc pro tunc 2 Defendants’ Motion to Stay or, in the Alternative, for an Order Extending Time to Answer or Respond to the Complaint. It is hereby ORDERED that the motion is GRANTED; and it is further ORDERED that this action is stayed pending final resolution of Dean v. NBC Universal et al., Case Number 2011 CA 006055 B, currently pending in the Superior Court of the … [ CONTINUE READING ]
Maddow Defendants File Reply Brief in Support of Anti-SLAPP Motion
Rachel Maddow and the related NBC defendants today filed their reply brief in support of their anti-SLAPP motion. After initially arguing that the plaintiffs’ opposition had failed to respond to the majority of their arguments, they address the two attacks on the statute – that it violates the Home Rule and is inapplicable in federal court. Defendants first argue that the Home Rule and its legislative history “are devoid of any indication that Congress intended to prohibit the Council from enacting legislation that conferred substantive rights on defendants that are targeted with meritless litigation as a result of speaking on … [ CONTINUE READING ]
Dean Argues that 3M Decision Controls Resolution of Maddow Anti-SLAPP Motion
Bradley Dean today filed his opposition to the anti-SLAPP motion filed by Rachel Maddow and others in response to his federal court action. Given that he expressly refiled his Superior Court case in federal court as part of a strategy to gain the benefit of Judge Wilkins’ decision in 3M v. Boulter, it comes as no surprise that his brief relies heavily on that decision. Dean also argues, as he had argued in the Superior Court, that that anti-SLAPP statute violates the Home Rule Act. While the Home Rule argument has been made in several cases (see here, here, and here), … [ CONTINUE READING ]
Maddow and NBC Move to Dismiss Second Dean Suit
Rachel Maddow and related NBC defendants today moved to dismiss the duplicative federal court suit filed by Dean and others. This second anti-SLAPP motion, necessitated because Dean is forum shopping in federal court instead of litigating his pending case in Superior Court, makes many of the arguments previously made by the defendants in the Superior Court action. Because the case is now pending in federal court, however, and in light of the opinion in 3M v. Boulter, the defendants argue that the anti-SLAPP statute clearly applies in federal court. They quote from Judge Leon’s “Statement of Reasons” in Sherrod v. … [ CONTINUE READING ]
