Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16(i) provides “[a]n order granting or denying a special motion to strike shall be appealable under Section 904.1.” Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1(a)(13) provides that an order granting or denying a motion to strike under section 425.16 is immediately appealable. Does this rule change if the matter is a limited civil case? Apparently so.
Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1 governs appeals in cases other than limited civil cases. (See Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1(a).) Appeals in limited civil cases are governed by Code of Civil Procedure section 904.2. Section 904.2 does not make appealable orders granting or denying motions to strike under section 425.16. In Citibank, N.A. v. Tabalon (2012) 209 Cal.App.4th Supp. 16, the Appellate Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court conluded that the inclusion in section 904.1 of anti-SLAPP orders and the omission of anti-SLAPP orders in section 904.2 clearly expressed the Legislature’s intent to make anti-SLAPP orders immediately appealable in only general jurisidiction cases. (Id. at 21.) Although not discussed in the case, the Legislature’s intent to make orders granting or denying anti-SLAPP motions immediately appealable in only general jurisidiction cases can also be ascertained from section 425.16(i), which refers only to section 904.1.