News

COSTA MESA – An Orange County judge has thrown out a malicious-prosecution lawsuit by an opponent of the 557-acre Wolf Creek development in Temecula against S-P Murdy, the project’s developer. Rutan & Tucker attorneys John A. Ramirez, Phil Kohn and Mark Austin represented S-P Murdy in the suit, which was heard by OC Superior Court Judge John C. Woolley. Woolley issued his ruling on S-P Murdy’s anti-SLAPP motion today. The suit was brought by Chris Pedersen, who led a referendum effort to kill the 2,000-unit Wolf Creek residential project. The Temecula City Clerk refused to certify for the ballot two measures submitted by Pedersen’s group, because they violated the state Elections Code in obvious ways. Pedersen sued the city and S-P Murdy to force the petitions onto the ballot, and S-P Murdy filed a cross-complaint against Pedersen alleging intentional interference with its contracts with the city and school district and negligence in failing to meet Elections Code requirements. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Sharon Waters upheld the City Clerk’s actions, but granted an anti-SLAPP motion by Pedersen and dismissed S-P Murdy’s cross-complaint. Pedersen appealed Waters’ ruling on the referendums and sued S-P Murdy and its former law firm for malicious prosecution. (The Fourth District Court of Appeal in April issued a preliminary ruling against Pedersen on the appeal.) In response to the new lawsuit, S-P Murdy filed an anti-SLAPP motion of its own, and Woolley agreed with Ramirez’s contention that S-P Murdy’s cross-complaint had been based on tenable legal arguments, and that Pedersen’s latest suit did not have a probability of prevailing.