MALIBOU LAKE : Plaintiff Ordered to Pay Homeowners' Legal Bills

"Drolet, who wants to build a house on property she owns in the mountain hamlet south of Agoura Hills, tried to quiet opposition in March by filing a complaint commonly known as a SLAPP--an acronym for "strategic lawsuit against public participation." Developers nationwide have frequently filed SLAPPs in recent years when homeowner groups criticized their projects, claiming such protests hurt their livelihood."

"Zebrowski's two-page ruling characterized Drolet's $4-million lawsuit as having "no rational basis" and said the legal action "was for the purpose of harassment in the sense that it was intended to intimidate the members of the homeowners association." The Malibou Lake outcome came under a state law, which took effect Jan. 1, designed to curtail SLAPPs."

Madeleine Drolet, a Malibou Lake property owner seeking to build a house, filed a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) in March to silence the Malibou Lakeside Homeowners Association's opposition to her project. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Zebrowski ruled the $4-million lawsuit had no rational basis and was intended to intimidate and harass the homeowners group. Under a new state law effective January 1 designed to curtail SLAPPs, Drolet was ordered to reimburse the association $10,500 for legal defense costs. Developers have frequently used SLAPPs against homeowner groups criticizing their projects, though such lawsuits rarely succeed but often exhaust opponents through expensive litigation.

Read at Los Angeles Times