California Supreme Court limits use of anti-SLAPP laws by government agencies

The California Supreme Court has declined to review and depublish a state appeals court ruling regarding the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District. The decision prevents the district from using anti-SLAPP laws—designed to prevent strategic lawsuits against public participation—to block a lawsuit filed by a local farmer.

The legal dispute arose after the district imposed civil penalties on Diamond D General Engineering and its CEO, Spencer Defty, for violating an unwritten policy that removed agricultural exemptions from pollution permitting rules. The district attempted to use anti-SLAPP statutes to halt the farmer's legal challenge against the regulator's own lawsuit.

As a result of the ruling, the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District will be required to pay the legal fees for Diamond D General Engineering and Defty Farms. The Pacific Legal Foundation, which supported the farmer, argued that the district attempted to use a law intended to promote public participation as a weapon to silence a citizen seeking judicial review.