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jurisdictional time limits—governing motions for new trial and governing the time to
appeal—with the statutory designation that an order granting an anti-SLAPP motion is
directly appealable.
We begin with the time for filing an appeal. The notice of appeal from a
judgment must be filed on or before the earliest of (1) 60 days after the trial court clerk’s
mailing of the notice of entry of judgment, (2) 60 days after the party filing the appeal
serves or is served the notice of entry of judgment by a party, or (3) 180 days after entry
of judgment. (Rule 8.104(a)(1)(A)-(C).) Rule 8.108 extends the time to appeal when a
party “serves and files a valid notice of intention to move for a new trial . . . .” (Rule
8.108(b).)8
It is the “valid notice” provision of rule 8.108(b) that is at issue here. Though
rule 8.108 does not define the term “valid,” courts have interpreted it in accordance with
the Advisory Committee comment to rule 8.108, which provides that “ ‘ “valid”
means only that the motion or notice complies with all procedural requirements; it does
not mean that the motion or notice must also be substantively meritorious.’ ” (Branner v.
Regents of University of California (2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 1043, 1046, quoting
Advisory Com. com., 23 pt. 2 West’s Ann. Codes, Rules (2009 supp.) foll. rule 8.108,
p. 84, italics added.) Respondent Kruger contends that appellants are not entitled to the
extension of time under rule 8.108(b) because their motion for new trial did not meet the