Ames v. Allstate Home Loans
Filed 7/27/06 Ames v. Allstate Home Loans CA4/3
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION THREE
| SONDRA AMES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ALLSTATE HOME LOANS, INC., et al., Defendants and Appellants. | G035583 (Super. Ct. No. 04CC03702) O P I N I O N |
Appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Robert J. Moss, Judge. Reversed and remanded with directions.
Shanberg Stafford, Ross E. Shanberg and Shane C. Stafford, for Defendants and Appellants.
Daily Law Group, James D. Daily and Joseph F. Fighera, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Allstate Home Loans Inc.,[1] appeals from an order denying its special motion to strike Sondra Ames's (Ames) causes of action for defamation, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Allstate argues the trial court erred in denying its special motion to strike the six causes of action because they arose from conduct in furtherance of protected activity and Ames did not demonstrate a probability of prevailing on the causes of action.
We agree with Allstate as to Ames's causes of action for malicious prosecution and abuse of process, but otherwise conclude the trial court properly denied the special motion to strike. We direct the trial court to consider Allstate's request for attorney fees.
FACTS
Allstate was a licensed mortgage banker and brokerage firm with its principal office in the City of Irvine, and its president was Gregg Shanberg (Shanberg). Allstate had a branch office in the City of Newport Beach, which was managed by
La Tonya Allen De Joie (De Joie).
Ames was an independent contractor who worked for Allstate as a loan officer from January 2003 to January 2004, first in its Irvine office, and then in its Newport Beach office to help grow the branch based on her strong personal and business ties to that community. De Joie was Ames's supervisor.
To this extent, the parties appear to agree. However, they dispute what happened next. Ames claims that in late 2003 she discovered De Joie and others â€
