Barry v. State Bar

Filed 8/21/13

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO

PATRICIA J. BARRY, B242054

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC452239) v.

THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Deirdre Hill, Judge. Reversed.

Patricia J. Barry, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Kerr & Wagstaffe and Michael von Loewenfeldt; State Bar of California Office of General Counsel, Starr Babcock, Lawrence C. Yee, and Danielle A. Lee for Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiff and appellant Patricia J. Barry (plaintiff) appeals from the trial court‟s order awarding $2,575.04 in attorney fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, subdivision (c)1 to defendant and respondent The State Bar of California (the State Bar) as the prevailing defendant on a special motion to strike2 plaintiff‟s complaint. In her complaint, plaintiff sought to vacate a stipulation she had entered into with the State Bar regarding two disciplinary actions against her. The trial court concluded that all of plaintiff‟s causes of action arose from the State Bar disciplinary proceedings -- a protected activity under section 425.16. The trial court further concluded that plaintiff had no reasonable probability of prevailing on her claims because, among other reasons, the court had no subject matter jurisdiction over State Bar disciplinary matters. The trial court granted the anti-SLAPP motion and awarded attorney fees to the State Bar as the prevailing party on that motion. Plaintiff challenges the attorney fee award on jurisdictional grounds, arguing that the trial court‟s lack of subject matter jurisdiction precluded it from awarding attorney fees under section 425.16.3 We agree and reverse the order awarding attorney fees. BACKGROUND In April 2010, plaintiff and the State Bar‟s Office of Chief Trial Counsel entered into a stipulation resolving two State Bar disciplinary cases against plaintiff. In December 2010, plaintiff sought to revoke the stipulation by filing a petition with the California Supreme Court to set aside the stipulation and dismiss the disciplinary charges against her. After the Supreme Court denied plaintiff‟s petition, she filed the instant