Allegations Of Breach Of Professional And Ethical Duties Against Lawyer.

A lawyer, who was co-founder of a firm, resigned from the law firm after an internal dispute. Five days prior to the effective date of his resignation, he remotely accessed the law firm’s document management system and spent several hours reviewing certain files relating to real estate transactions. Five months afterwards, one of the law firm’s clients brought an action against the law firm for fraud. The next year, the law firm brought another action against the lawyer who had resigned for breach of fiduciary duty, among other causes of action, and it is that action involved here. The lawyer who resigned is accused of “systematically reviewing, downloading, and printing” the law firm’s privileged and confidential file materials on multiple occasions without proper authorization or any legitimate purpose in breach of his professional and ethical duties. The lawyer who resigned brought a special motion to strike the law firm’s complaint pursuant to the anti-SLAPP statute [Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16], arguing that each cause of action arose from constitutionally protected speech, namely his communications with the lawyers for the clients who sued the law firm. The trial court denied the motion to strike, and the appellate court affirmed, stating: “Although [the lawyer who resigned] characterizes the claims differently, [the law firm’s] causes of action arise from an alleged breach of professional and ethical duties.” Castleman v. Sagaser (Cal. App. Fifth Dist.; May 15, 2013) 216 Cal.App.4th 481.