"Panel OKs Suit Against 'Shakedown'"

Yesterday's Daily Journal reported on American Products Co. v. Law Offices of Geller, Stewart & Foley, LLP, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Dec. 16, 2005) (Fourth Appellate District, Division Two), handed down last Friday, in which the Court of Appeal held that the litigation privilege did not bar a suit against lawyers accused of filing Trevor-like "shakedown" suits under the former UCL. In a now-familiar irony, the lawyers were themselves sued for violating the UCL, as well as for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.

The article incorrectly reported that "[a]fter the Trevor debacle, lawmakers changed the law so that plaintiffs now have to cite specific damages in their claims and post notice to the class." It was not lawmakers, but rather the initiative process, that resulted in the amendment.