MOVING PARTY: Defendants SCBWI AND Lin Oliver

OPPOSITION: Plaintiff Jay Asher

Plaintiff Jay Asher (“Plaintiff”) sued Defendants the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (“SCBWI”) and Lin Oliver (“Oliver”), (collectively “Defendants”), for defamation. Plaintiff, an author, alleged that Defendants defamed him by issuing statements about banning him from SCBWI after accusations that he had harassed female members.

On January 18, 2019, Plaintiff filed a Complaint.

On April 26, 2019, Defendants’ anti-SLAPP motion was heard and granted by the Court.

On July 19, 2019, Plaintiff filed an appeal, which is pending.

Defendants now bring this opposed motion for attorneys’ fees and costs asserting they spent 243.3 hours directly related to the anti-SLAPP motion and an additional 32.4 hours for this motion. As such, Defendants request $95,046.75 in attorneys’ fees and $859.52 in costs, for a total of $95,906.27.

Standard: Reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs award to a prevaili