Wargo French Singer partner Jeff Williams recently secured a win for client Federal Title & Escrow Company in the D.C. Court of Appeals. The case involved questions of first impression regarding the scope and applicability of the anti-SLAPP statute in the District of Columbia. Specifically, in ruling for Federal Title, the court held that a defendant’s statements are not automatically deemed to relate to an “issue of public interest” simply because they may relate to a pending lawsuit, and that language in the statute suggesting that public issues may encompass those “under consideration or review by a legislative, executive, or judicial body” must give way to more specific language elsewhere in the statute offering a more constrained definition. Federal Title’s claim for tortious interference was therefore reinstated and the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees to the defendant was completely wiped out.