Styger v. Johnson [1]

In July 2008, Joseph Styger, a San Francisco dentist, sued former patient Deborah Johnson and various John Doe defendants over a critical review that Johnson posted to consumer review website Yelp.com [2].  According to the Complaint [3], the review falsely accused Styger of being an "unethical dentist." Cmplt. ¶ 6.

On August 22, 2008, Johnson filed a special motion to strike [4] the complaint under California's anti-SLAPP law [5].  The court granted [6] the motion to strike on September 23, 2008, finding that "plaintiff has not demonstrated a probability of prevailing on his claim against Johnson" due to the California's one-year statute of limitations for defamation. See California Code of Civil Procedure 340(c) [7].