On March 22, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued an opinion in Newport Harbor Ventures, LLC v. Morris Cerullo World Evangelism, S239777, which limits the right to file certain anti-SLAPP motions.
Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, subdivision (f) permits a defendant to file an anti-SLAPP motion “within 60 days of the service of the complaint, or in the court’s discretion, at any later time upon terms it deems proper.”
Resolving a conflict between the lower courts, the Supreme Court concluded: “Because the anti-SLAPP statute is designed to resolve these lawsuits early, but not to permit the abuse that delayed motions to strike might entail, we conclude, as did the Court of Appeal, that, subject to the trial court’s discretion under section 425.16, subdivision (f), to permit late filing, a defendant must move to strike a cause of action within 60 days of service of the earliest complaint that contains that cause of action.”