Employer’s Malicious Prosecution Claim Subject to Anti-SLAPP

  Unemployment Insurance Code section 1960 provides that any finding, judgment, or final order of the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board shall not be used as evidence in any separate or subsequent action or proceeding between an employee and present or prior employer.

  In  Kurz v. Syrus Systems the Court of Appeals held that section 1960 operated as a bar to the maintenance of a cause of action for malicious prosecution in a cross-complaint Kurz’s prior employer asserted against Kurz. The offending cause of action alleged that Kurz had maliciously prosecuted a meritless claim for unemployment insurance benefits that terminated in Syrus’s favor when the claim was denied and the denial was upheld on appeal by a decision of the Board. Continue reading