Kibler v. No. Inyo County Local Hosp. Dist.

• Decision Date: 20 July 2006
• Docket Number: No. S131641.,S131641.
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: George KIBLER, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. NORTHERN INYO COUNTY LOCAL HOSPITAL DISTRICT et al., Defendants and Respondents.

46 Cal.Rptr.3d 41

39 Cal.4th 192

138 P.3d 193

George KIBLER, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. NORTHERN INYO COUNTY LOCAL HOSPITAL DISTRICT et al., Defendants and Respondents.

No. S131641.

Supreme Court of California.

July 20, 2006.

As Modified July 20, 2006.

Superior Court, Inyo County; Edward Forstenzer^*, Judge.

Donald W. Odell, Lone Pine, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Catherine I. Hanson, San Francisco, Gregory M. Abrams, and John D. Harwell, Manhattan Beach, for California Medical Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Horvitz & Levy, David M. Axelrad, Jon B. Eisenberg, Jeremy D. Rosen, Encino; DiCaro, Coppo & Popcke, Carlo Coppo, Srinivas Hanumadass, Carlsbad; and Douglas Buchanan, for Defendants and Respondents.

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Barry S. Landsberg, Terri D. Keville and Doreen Wener Shenfeld, Los Angeles, for Catholic Healthcare West and the Regents of the University of California as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.

Stephan, Oringher, Richman & Theodora, Harry W.R. Chamberlain II, Robert M. Dato and Brian P. Barrow, Costa Mesa, for Association of Southern California Defense Counsel as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.

Lois Richardson; Foley & Lardner, Lowell C. Brown, Sarah G. Benator and Patricia M. Kosich, Los Angeles, for California Hospital Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.

KENNARD, J.

Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 sets out a procedure for striking complaints in harassing lawsuits that are commonly known as SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuits against public participation), which are brought to challenge the exercise of constitutionally protected free speech rights.¹ Is this procedure available in a lawsuit brought by a hospital staff physician and arising out of a disciplinary recommendation by the hospital's peer review committee? We conclude that it is, and therefore affirm the Court of Appeal.

I

Beginning in 1979, Northern Inyo Hospital, an acute-care facility in Bishop, California, granted staff privileges to Dr. George Kibler, a physician and surgeon. On December 20, 2001, after a series of hostile encounters between Kibler and other staff members, the hospital brought an action against Kibler, seeking an injunction under section 527.8 against workplace violence. The next day, the hospital's peer review committee summarily suspended Kibler from its medical staff based on his "continuing and recently escalating unprofessional conduct of extremely hostile and threatening verbal assaults, threats of physical violence, including assault with a gun, and related erratic actions of a hostile nature toward nursing and administrative personnel ... ."

On January 3, 2002, Kibler entered into a written agreement with the hospital reinstating his staff privileges. The agreement specifically required that Kibler refrain from hostile, violent, intimidating, or demeaning conduct toward hospital personnel, and that he not keep or carry a firearm on the premises. In addition, the agreement included a general release by Kibler of "all damages of any and all kind and nature" arising out of his summary suspension from the hospital's staff. On January 22, 2002, based on a stipulation by the hospital and Kibler, the trial court entered a permanent injunction requiring Kibler to attend anger-management classes and barring him from bringing any firearm to the hospital.

On December 13, 2002, Kibler filed this action against the hospital, and against certain physicians and nurses, seeking damages under a variety of theories including defamation, abuse of process, and interference with Kibler's practice of medicine.² In less than a week, the hospital responded by moving under section 425.16 to strike Kibler's complaint as a SLAPP suit, that is a lawsuit brought solely to harass the defendants. The hospital argued, and the trial court agreed, that Kibler's lawsuit arose out of the hospital's peer review proceeding against Kibler and that hospital peer review was an "official proceeding" qualifying for the anti-SLAPP statute's motion to strike. Accordingly, the trial court struck Kibler's complaint and dismissed his lawsuit. The Court of Appeal affirmed. We granted Kibler's petition for review to decide whether a hospital peer review proceeding is an "official proceeding authorized by law" within the meaning of section 425.16 and thus subject to a special motion to strike as a SLAPP suit.

II

Enacted in 1992, section 425.16 sets out the procedure for filing a special motion to strike certain lawsuits that are "brought primarily to chill the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and petition for the redress of grievances." (§ 425.16, subd. (a), added by Stats.1992, ch. 726, § 2, p. 3523.) Because section 425.16 allows for the early dismissal of SLAPP suits, it is often called the "anti-SLAPP" statute. In enacting that statute, the Legislature declared that "it is in the public interest to encourage continued participation in matters of public significance, and that this participation should not be chilled through abuse of the judicial process." (Ibid.) To achieve that goal, the Legislature stated, the anti-SLAPP statute "shall be construed broadly." (§ 425.16, subd. (a).)

Recently, in Varian Medical Systems, Inc. v. Delfino (2005) 35 Cal.4th 180, 192, 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 298, 106 P.3d 958, we discussed the anti-SLAPP statute's effect on SLAPP suits: "Because these meritless lawsuits seek to deplete `the defendant's energy' and drain `his or her resources' (Simmons v. Allstate Ins. Co. (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 1068, 1074), the Legislature sought `"to prevent SLAPPs by ending them early and without great cost to the SLAPP target"' (Equilon Enterprises v. Consumer Cause, Inc. (2002) 29 Cal.4th 53, 65[, 124 Cal.Rptr.2d 507, 52 P.3d 685])." Section 425.16 sets out a procedure for the trial court to evaluate the merits of the lawsuit, "using a summary-judgment-like procedure at an early stage of the litigation." (Varian Medical Systems, Inc., supra, 35 Cal.4th at p. 192, 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 298, 106 P.3d 958.) "In doing so, section 425.16 seeks to limit the costs of defending against [a SLAPP suit]. (See Equilon Enterprises, at p. 65, 124 Cal.Rptr.2d 507, 52 P.3d 685 [noting that the `short time frame for anti-SLAPP filings and hearings' and the `stay of discovery' pending resolution of the motion evidences the Legislature's intent to minimize the litigation costs of SLAPP targets].)" (Ibid.)

Section 425.16, subdivision (b)(1) provides: "A cause of action against a person arising from any act of that person in furtherance of the person's right of petition or free speech under the United States or California Constitution in connection with a public issue shall be subject to a special motion to strike, unless the court determines that the plaintiff has established that there is a probability that the plaintiff will prevail on the claim." Subdivision (e) of section 425.16 defines the phrase "`act in furtherance of a person's right of petition or free speech . . . in connection with a public issue'" to include: "(1) any written or oral statement or writing made before a legislative, executive, or judicial proceeding, or any other official proceeding authorized by law; (2) any written or oral statement or writing made in connection with an issue under consideration or review by a legislative, executive, or judicial body, or any other official proceeding authorized by law; (3) any written or oral statement or writing made in a place open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public interest; (4) or any other conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of petition or the constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public issue or an issue of public interest." (Italics added.) A defendant who invokes either subparagraph (1) or subparagraph (2) of subdivision (e) of section 425.16, the anti-SLAPP statute, need not "separately demonstrate that the statement concerned an issue of public significance." (Briggs v. Eden Council for Hope & Opportunity (1999) 19 Cal.4th 1106, 1123, 81 Cal.Rptr.2d 471, 969 P.2d 564.)

At issue here is the meaning of the statutory phrase "any other official proceeding authorized by law," which appears in both subparagraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (e) of section 425.16, the anti-SLAPP statute. These two subparagraphs (both defining acts in furtherance of the rights of petition and of free speech) differ in that subparagraph (1) is limited to oral and written statements and writings actually made in the course of certain specified proceedings, while subparagraph (2) includes statements made "in connection with" those proceedings. Here, the trial court found that Kibler's lawsuit against the hospital arose out of oral or written statements or writings made "in connection with" (but not during the course of) the hospital's peer review proceeding that resulted in Kibler's summary suspension. Therefore, we are concerned here solely with subparagraph (2) of subdivision (e) of section 425.16, and not with subparagraph (1) of subdivision (e). As we explain below, a hospital's peer review qualifies as "any other official proceeding authorized by law" under subparagraph (2) of subdivision (e) and thus a lawsuit arising out of a peer review proceeding is subject to a special motion under section 425.16 to strike the SLAPP suit.

In construing the language of section 425.16, the anti-SLAPP statute, we apply well-established principles of statutory construction. Our goal is to determine the Legislature's intent in enacting the statute "`so that we may adopt the construction that best effectuates the purpose of the law.'" (City of Burbank v. State Water Resources Control Bd. (2005) 35 Cal.4th 613, 625, 26 Cal.Rptr.3d 304, 108 P.3d 862.) In doing so, we look first to the statutory language, which generally is "`the most...