4DCA Division 3 Oral Argument - 2026/06/18 - Jun 18, 2026

argument

4DCA Division 3 Oral Argument - 2026/06/18

California Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three 5h 11m 8 chapters transcribed 1 month ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What courtroom procedures and reminders are given at the beginning of the oral argument?

Unknown 4:07

Yeah. Maybe I'll go after the works.

Unknown 10:56

Yeah. Yeah, function. Probably first day.

Unknown 11:26

Unknown 11:34

You're gonna be studying. She's just gonna have message sit in the gallery and direct.

Unknown 14:16

Oh. Yeah, I just you know. Lonesome self.

Unknown 14:31

Oh great. Not

Russell Franson 14:34

quite, but that's close enough. Okay. Exactly. Okay. That's still practicing there. Yeah. That's the name quite useful.

Unknown 14:54

No I don't stuff is it really excellent? Hold on.

Russell Franson 14:59

I always enjoy square specs of it,

Unknown 15:02

but I hate a lot of

Russell Franson 15:02

roots. Uh huh.

Unknown 15:05

So how's the firm Gory? Yeah. And across not yet to worry about Resolution.

Unknown 15:54

Yeah.

Unknown 17:02

I love the move.

Unknown 20:05

Morning, ladies and gentlemen, if I can meet your attention real quick, just a reminder, no eating, no chewing gum, no drinking liquids while you're back there. But when

Russell Franson 20:12

counselor, when you come up and present your argument, there's water provided for you. Uh this podium is adjustable in height. And there's a black switch right here. Just toggle switch, so just hold it down for down or vice versa for up. Okay.

Unknown 20:24

Adjust it to your height so they can properly hear you. Currently it's not recording, but you'll see uh LD red L LED light come on and it's active, so we'll pick up uh any voices in the far back room. You all kind of know where the restroom is, it's outside opposite end. And if you get thirsty between your case or before your case, there's a water fountain right across uh from the restrooms. Uh don't read articles that don't pertain to your case, such as newspaper magazines. Um, and that's pretty much. it that's all I have for now. Um it's our it's our Friday because tomorrow's a holiday, so uh enjoy it. Big thanks. Thank you.

Unknown 27:10

All right. Or the deal for industry license.

Justice Martha Gooding 27:24

Good morning to all of you. I am Justice Martha Gooding. To my right is Justice Nate Scott. To my left is Judge Walter Schwarm, who is sitting with us by designation. We have three items on calendar this morning. It looks like we're gonna have a panel change for each one. So we'll begin first with LS Carlson Law versus Katie Sedgwick.

Justice Martha Gooding 27:59

Hey, when you're ready, uh please make your appearance and and you make begin.

Kirk Pearson 28:03

Thank you. Good morning, Your Honors. Uh Kirk Pearson appearing for L S Carlson Laws.

Justice Martha Gooding 28:08

Okay, of your fifteen minutes, do you wish to reserve any?

Kirk Pearson 28:11

Yes, I wish to reserve approximately five minutes to respond to respondents' arguments.

Justice Martha Gooding 28:15

All right. We'll let you know when you hit the ten minute mark. Perfect. Thank you.

Kirk Pearson 28:20

Uh this appeal turns on a single order granting an anti slap motion that this court will be reviewing de novo. And the trial court got both prongs wrong, but I wanna start my argument a little bit backwards by addressing the prong two analysis of the anti slap statute. And then I'll move for on to address prong one and then I'll finish by addressing the kind of ignored uh breach of contract and declaratory belief claims. Uh as it pertains to the prong two analysis. The court the trial court did not weigh the evidence presented by our firm in a declaration from me disputing the truthfulness of the comments or allegations made in this underlying Yelp review. And dismissed the evidence as being immaterial.

Kirk Pearson 29:12

Um or irrelevant. Um this is where the kind of prong one and prong two analysis gets a little intertwined and and they are kind of inextricably intertwined in this case. Um but I'll address that here in a moment. But as it pertains to prompt two our client as a pellant our firm need only show a prima fascia showing of a likelihood of succeeding on the merits. We don't have to prove the entire case. We don't have to prove a hundred percent that we're going to win. We just have to put forward facts and evidence to substantiate That we have claims. Claims for defamation, claims for breach of contract, and claims for declaratory relief. The trial court was very dismissive of the evidence presented and and largely ignored my declaration, disputing the factual uh comments and and disputing the criminal allegations and unethical allegations made in this underlying Yelp review.

Kirk Pearson 30:08

When it comes to the prong one analysis, I think that's important here. And I say the prong one and prong two are kind of intertwined.