In a new published opinion, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held that the submission of insurance claims may constitute protected prelitigation conduct under the anti-SLAPP law.
The People ex rel.Fire Insurance Exchange v. Anapol involved a fire insurance company that alleged several people, including two attorneys, engaged in the submission of false claims for damage arising from Southern California wildfires. The attorneys filed anti-SLAPP motions, arguing that their pursuit of insurance claims and acts in obtaining clients were prelitigation conduct protected by CCP 425.16.
The trial court denied the motions, relying on People ex rel. 20th Century Ins. Co. v.Building Permit Consultants, Inc. (2000) 86 Cal.App.4th 280, which held that the submission of insurance claims does not constitute protected conduct under the anti-SLAPP law.
The attorneys appealed and argued that People ex rel. 20th Century Ins. Co. v. Building Permit Consultants, Inc. was wrongly decided or that it should be distinguished when the underlying insurance claim was submitted “in expectation of the litigation against the insurance company” for the bad faith denial of the claim. The Court of Appeal held that “under the proper circumstances, submission of an insurance claim can constitute prelitigation conduct protected by the anti-SLAPP law.”
However, the Court found that in this case, the mere assertions by the attorneys that their claims were submitted with the intent that litigation would follow were insufficient. The attorneys did not provide prima facie evidence that the insurance claims constituted prelitigation conduct.
While the attorneys were unable to convince the Court in this case, they did open the door for future litigants to use the anti-SLAPP law to argue that the submission of an insurance claim constituted protected prelitigation conduct.