SUNSET MILLENNIUM ASSOCIATES, LLC, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. LHO GRAFTON HOTEL, L.P., Defendant and Respondent. , 146 Cal. App. 4th 300

Summary

The complaint alleged that an administrative objection to the approval of an environmental impact report concerning a hotel expansion project breached the parties' agreements. In the published portion of the opinion, the court held that the trial court did not err in ruling that Code Civ. Proc., § 425.17, subd. (c), did not provide a basis for denial of the motion because all of the statements and conduct alleged to have been made in an effort to forestall environmental approval of the expansion project involved the expansion project--not hotel services. The statements were not made for the purpose of promoting goods and services, within the meaning of § 425.17, subd. (c)(1), and were not made in the course of delivering goods or services. Thus, the exception to the special motion to strike screening mechanism in § 425.17, subd. (c), relating to statements about a business competitor's operations, goods, and services, did not apply, and the trial court correctly concluded that it was ...