Okwuosa v. Vernon
| Decision Date | 01 November 2021 |
| Docket Number | B298790 |
| Parties | MAUREEN OKWUOSA, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. STEPHANIE VERNON, Defendant and Respondent. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County No 18TRCV00125, Deirdre Hill, Judge. Affirmed.
Maureen U. Okwuosa, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Morris & Stone, LLP, and Aaron P. Morris, for Defendant and Respondent.
Civil Code section 47, subdivision (b), provides a litigation privilege that bars civil liability for any communication made in a judicial proceeding, with a few enumerated exceptions. The purpose of the privilege is to encourage access to justice, open communication and zealous advocacy. Penal Code section 11172, subdivision (a), [1] also generally provides immunity from liability for any report of child abuse under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Act). The purpose of the Act is to increase reporting of suspected child abuse to authorities. But section 11172, subdivision (a), exposes to liability anyone who makes a voluntary and knowing or reckless false report under the Act.
Does section 11172, subdivision (a), override the litigation privilege of Civil Code section 47, subdivision (b), and expose to liability anyone who makes a voluntary and knowing or reckless false allegation of child abuse?
No Section 11172, subdivision (a), only covers an allegation of child abuse if a report is made under the Act, meaning made to a mandated reporter or designated agency. So, section 11172, subdivision (a), only overrides the litigation privilege of Civil Code section 47, subdivision (b), and exposes to liability a voluntary reporter who knowingly or recklessly makes a false child abuse report to a mandated reporter or designated agency.
We affirm the trial court's order granting the special motion to strike under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16.
Maureen Okwuosa[2] sued Stephanie Pulliam (née Vernon), alleging Stephanie[3] falsely accused Okwuosa of abusing Stephanie's children. According to Okwuosa Stephanie made these false accusations in court documents and to Stephanie's counsel, the children's appointed counsel and the police. Stephanie filed a special motion to strike under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16. She argued her statements were protected conduct and covered by the litigation privilege of Civil Code section 47. Okwuosa countered section 11172 overrode the litigation privilege. The trial court granted Stephanie's motion.
Stephanie and William Pulliam married in October 2005 and had two daughters: M.P. in July 2007 and P.P. in November 2011. Stephanie and William dissolved their marriage in February 2016. Under their child custody and visitation order, Stephanie had primary custody of the children, and William had custody on Tuesday evenings and alternating weekends.
William began dating Okwuosa in March 2017 and introduced Okwuosa to his children in June 2017. In November 2017, William and Okwuosa became engaged. William moved into a new house in January 2018. Okwuosa often spent time at William's new home but did not move in until September 2018.
In February 2018, William told M.P. about his plan to marry Okwuosa. Shortly after, Stephanie canceled several of William's weekend visits with the children, and only P.P. participated in William's Tuesday evening visits. Stephanie told William that M.P. refused to visit him because of Okwuosa's presence in his home.
In May 2018, William received a call from the children's school informing him the children had not attended school for approximately one week. William learned Stephanie had moved and intended to withdraw the children from their current school. William successfully moved ex parte to compel Stephanie to comply with the existing visitation order, re-enroll the children in their current school and disclose their whereabouts.
That month, Stephanie petitioned to reduce William's visits with the children, arguing Okwuosa was "verbally abusive to [Stephanie and William's] children, has hit [their] youngest child, is left alone with [their] children, and [William] fails to protect [them]." Stephanie requested that William's weekend visits be discontinued, that his Tuesday night visits be shortened to accommodate the children's bedtime and that Okwuosa "not . . . be present at all during visit[s]." In her declaration, Stephanie said M.P. "showed stress and anxiety on days she knew she was supposed to have a visit [with William] and started refusing weekend visits."
In June 2018, William filed a petition to modify the custody and visitation order to increase his time with the children.
That month, Stephanie filed a responsive declaration. Stephanie said William had moved in with Okwuosa in January 2018.[4] In February 2018, "[M.P.] began showing signs of distress and anxiety when it was time to visit [William]" and "stated that after they moved in with [Okwuosa], [Okwuosa] became very mean, bossy, yelled at [M.P.] and [P.P.] all the time and spanked [P.P.] because she wet herself." Stephanie said M.P. "repeated on many occasions that she no longer wanted [to visit William's home] nor did she want [P.P.] to go by herself because she was . . . scared that [Okwuosa] would do something else to [P.P.]." Stephanie said that Okwuosa had "verbally and physically abused" her and William's children and that she did not want the children "to live in a home where they will be verbally and physical[ly] abused by" Okwuosa. In July 2018, Stephanie filed a memorandum opposing William's petition and arguing Okwuosa had "verbally and physically abused" Stephanie and William's children.
The family court appointed Robert Waddell as counsel for the children in the ongoing custody dispute. Waddell conducted interviews and filed a statement of issues and contentions regarding the children's best interests. According to Waddell's statement, Stephanie told Waddell that M.P. stopped visiting William after she told Stephanie that Okwuosa hit P.P. In her responses to Waddell's Parent Questionnaire, Stephanie wrote that Okwuosa "hit [Stephanie and William's] daughter [P.P.], yells at both [their] daughters, is mean and bossy"; that William "neglect[ed]" and "failed to protect" the children; and that Stephanie "feared for [P.P.'s] safety" while [P.P.] was in Okwuosa's care and feared P.P. would "be unable to protect herself and . . . unable to communicate the abuse" to Stephanie.[5]Waddell's statement proposed that Stephanie and William continue sharing joint custody of the children under the visitation schedule set at the time of their dissolution, that William and M.P. seek joint counseling, and that the court set a review hearing in six months to evaluate if William's custody and visitation time with the children should be increased.
Stephanie filed a responsive declaration, reiterating that Okwuosa had abused her children and explaining that sending P.P., "who has special needs and cannot verbalize, alone to [William] for extended periods is dangerous, especially so since the issue of excessive discipline/abuse has yet to even be addressed." Stephanie also said that Okwuosa had pulled out one of P.P.'s loose teeth that was not ready to come out, causing P.P., who was emotional and crying when telling Stephanie about the incident, "a great deal of pain."[6]
In November 2018, Okwuosa filed a complaint against Stephanie for defamation, slander, libel, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and violation of section 11172, subdivision (a). The complaint alleged Stephanie had "manufactured claims of child abuse [against Okwuosa] in filed court documents" and, when making these claims, Stephanie "knew with absolute certainty that [Okwuosa] had never harmed her children in any way." The complaint cited abuse accusations appearing in Stephanie's May, June and July 2018 and other filings in the family law court. The complaint alleged Stephanie repeated these same false accusations to the children's appointed counsel and her counsel in the custody proceedings, who in turn repeated the accusations in an email to William. The complaint also alleged that in July 2018, Stephanie falsely reported to the police that her daughter "was being physically abused by [Okwuosa] and demanded a 'welfare check' be conducted at [Okwuosa's] home."[7] Stephanie's alleged claims of abuse in court filings, to attorneys in the custody proceedings and to the police collectively supported each of the complaint's causes of action.
In January 2019, Stephanie filed a special motion to strike all causes of action in Okwuosa's complaint under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16. Stephanie argued all the claims were premised on statements and writings protected under that section: Stephanie's statements in judicial proceedings, Stephanie's statements to attorneys participating in the judicial proceedings and Stephanie's statements to the police. So, Okwuosa had the burden of establishing a probability of prevailing on her claims to survive the motion. But Stephanie contended Okwuosa could not meet that burden. Stephanie argued her statements in court filings and to attorneys were protected under the litigation privilege and did not constitute "reports" potentially subject to liability under section 11172. Stephanie argued her statements to the police were...
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