This case arose from a dispute over the character Superman that Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster jointly created and thereafter gave rights to DC Comic’s predecessor. Defendants appealed the district court’s denial of defendants’ motion, pursuant to California’s anti-SLAPP statute, Cal. Civ. Proc. Code 425.16, to strike certain of DC Comics’ state law claims. At issue was whether the court’s decision in Batzel v. Smith remained good law after the Supreme Court’s intervening decision in Mohawk Industries v. Carpenter. In Batzel, the court held that the collateral order doctrine permitted a party to take an interlocutory appeal of an order denying motions to strike pursuant to the anti-SLAPP statute. The court held that such motions remained among the class of orders for which an immediate appeal was available. Thus, the holding in Batzel remained good law and the order denying the motion to strike pursuant to the anti-SLAPP statute remained immediately appealable pursuant to the collateral order doctrine. Therefore, the court had jurisdiction and decided the merits in a memorandum disposition filed concurrently. View “DC Comics v. Pacific Pictures Corp., et al” on Justia Law

View "DC Comics v. Pacific Pictures Corp., et al" on Justia Law