Anti-SLAPP Statute Provides Immunity from Tortious Interference Claim for Statements Leading to Plaintiff?s Firing from Public University; Plaintiff Ordered to Pay Fees and Damages.

After Anne Bailey, the risk manager at Eastern Washington University (EWU), was fired, she sued an individual who informed her employer that before her current job she had been convicted of third degree theft, and had in her plea stated:?? ?I took a $350 check of my employer?s and converted it to my own use.?? ?Bailey sued for tortious interference. The defendant unsuccessfully filed a motion to dismiss arguing that she had immunity. Reversing, Division III of the Court of Appeals held that the defendant had immunity for her communications to a public entity ?regarding any matter reasonably of concern to that agency or organization? under Washington?s Anti-SLAPP Statute, RCW 4.24.510, regardless of whether they were made in good faith. ?The Court remanded for dismissal and for an award of statutory expenses, attorney fees, and statutory damages of $10,000, as well as attorney fees and expenses for the appeal. Bailey v. State of Washington, Eastern Washington University, 147 Wn. App. 251, 191 P.3d 1285 (2008).