Are you ready to hear this?
I’m about to reveal a little known fact that can dramatically change the length of your defamation lawsuit. Knowing this one thing may allow you to obtain preferential treatment from the Court.
Sounds good, right? I mean, who doesn’t want special treatment?
I almost hesitate to tell you this for two reasons: (1) it’s so simple that you won’t think it’s a big deal once I tell you; and (2) I don’t want my competition to know this because I don’t want it done to me. But as I’ve said before, I won’t let my fear of competition get in the way of educating YOU about defamation law.
So here it is . . .
The way to get preferential treatment from the Court is to: ASK FOR IT at the right time, and in the right way.
You see, most attorneys know that some kinds of cases are entitled to priority in trial setting. This means that some cases must be given an earlier trial date than others. Attorneys also know that other types of cases CAN be given priority. In other words, the Court has discretion to give a case an earlier trial date other cases.
What is amazing is that most attorneys (at least the ones I know) aren’t aware that you can speed up a defamation case dramatically by making an ex parte application shortly after filing a complaint pursuant to CCP § 460.5
So here’s how it’s done:
- File a Complaint
- Make an Ex Parte Application Shortening Time to Respond to the Complaint
- Include a declaration showing that the alleged statement has been continuously published and that there is a reasonable likelihood that the publication will continue
- Serve a copy of the application, declaration, and order along with the summons
If you do the above and the court grants your request, the court MUST give your case priority in setting a date for trial.
This will speed up your trial. Instead of years, your trial may be heard in a matter of months. And that’s what you want if you’ve been defamed. You want justice. And you want it now.
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The problem with CCP Section 460.5 that doesn’t seem to get ANY mention is how it fits (or doesn’t fit) with the anti SLAPP law. Assume: the plaintiff is victim of obviously defamatory blog, he files suit for defamation, and promptly gets an order of priority. But, the defendant files an anti-SLAPP. Now the plaintiff’s request for priority is taking a back seat to the anti-SLAPP motion. Let’s say defendant loses the anti-SLAPP, and appeals. Now the plaintiff is looking at maybe 2 years of waiting for an appellate court to rule the trial court was correct to deny the anti-SLAPP motion. Meanwhile, the defendant continues to blog about the plaintiff, and ramps up the defamation because he’s angry about getting sued. This happens all the time. And you have stated that you believe the defendant should have the right to appeal a denied anti-SLAPP motion. It seems like the right to priority clashes with the right to appeal denied anti SLAPP motions. With blogs, there is a lot of defamation out there right now, and the blogger uses the extra time to attack the plaintiff for suing, and uses the delay afforded by this hole in the law to do it. Seems like the law of priority is a hollow remedy.