2951 Since no official proceeding was pending, defendants who cold-called and sent direct mail to large numbers of homeowners in the Northridge area after the earthquake, persuading them to enter into allegedly illegal contracts by which defendants were to receive a portion of the insurance proceeds, in return for which defendants prepared damage and repair estimates and other documents for use in support of false and fraudulent claims, were not exercising first amendment rights in connection with an issue under consideration by a public proceeding and were not protected by the SLAPP statute.CitationTWENTIETH CENT INS v BLDG PERMIT CONSULTANTS (Earthquake Claims) 86 CA4 280 [See: CCP 425.16; Briggs v EDHO 19 C4 1106, T/AT 2/99; Dove v Rosenfeld 47 CA4 777, T/AT 8/96; Wilcox v Superior Court 27 CA4 809, T/AT 9/94]
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