Villanueva v. Cyprexx Services
Plaintiffs and appellants Jun Villanueva and Sharon Balverde sued defendants and respondents Cyprexx Services, LLC (Cyprexx) and attorney Tyneia Merritt after Cyprexx auctioned Villanueva's personal belongings following the nonjudicial foreclosure sale of his residence. The trial court sustained without leave to amend the demurrer of Cyprexx and granted defendant Merritt's special motion to strike the complaint as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (Code Civ. Proc.,[1] § 425.16, commonly known as the anti-SLAPP statute). Plaintiffs appeal from the ensuing judgments in defendants' favor. They contend their complaint states causes of action for wrongful eviction, conversion, violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) (50 U.S.C. Appen. § 501, et seq.), replevin or claim and delivery, and unjust enrichment, and the trial court should have granted them leave to amend. They further contend the court erred in granting Merritt's anti-SLAPP motion because Merritt did not engage in protected speech, and they demonstrated a likelihood of prevailing on their SCRA cause of action. They argue the court should have granted them leave to amend to state a malicious prosecution cause of action against Merritt. We affirm the judgments.
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