NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
RYAN DREXLER,

Plaintiff

- Appellant,

v. BRADFORD BILLET,

Defendant

- Appellee. No. 18

- 55947
D.C. No. 2:17

- cv - 08552

- DMG

- JC

MEMORANDUM *

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Dolly M. Gee, District Judge, Presiding Submitted November 8, 2019 ** Pasadena, California Before: FARRIS and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges, and KENDALL, *** District Judge.
R yan Drexler appeals the district court’s dismissal, pursuant to California’s
anti

- SLAPP statute, of his breach of contract and fraudulent inducement action.

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36

- 3.

** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)( 2).

*** The Honorable Virginia M. Kendall, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation. 

# FILED

NOV 13 2019 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS2

He argues the district court failed to apply Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) when evaluating his complain t, instead mistakenly applying Rule 56 by considering
extrinsic evidence. Drexler also contends the district court erred in finding he was not an intended beneficiary of a contract

— the breach of which led in part to this
suit

— and by determining that Bradf ord Billet did not contract away his right to
anti

- SLAPP protections. The parties are familiar with the facts, so we do not repeat them here. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm the
district court.
We review de novo a district court's r uling on a motion to strike under
California's anti

- SLAPP statute. Makaeff v. Trump Univ., LLC , 715 F.3d 254, 261 (9th Cir. 2013).
Drexler relies on our recent holding that a court evaluating a California anti

SLAPP motion challenging the legal sufficiency of a claim should apply the Rule 12(b)(6) standard, whereas a motion to strike challenging the factual sufficiency of a claim is subject to the Rule 56 standard with accompanying discovery

. Planned Parenthood Fed'n of Am., Inc. v. Ctr. for Med . Progress , 890 F.3d 828, 834 (9th Cir. 2018). This reliance is misplaced, as t he district court based its ruling on the general nature of Drexler’s allegations, only glancingly referenced Billet’s
declaration , and therefore “correctly applied a Rule 12(b)(6) standard to3

Defendant[’s] Motion to Strike challenging the legal sufficiency of Plaintiff[’s] complaint.” Planned Parenthood , 890 F.3d at 835. Drexler’s arguments that the district court mistakenly conclude d he was not an intended beneficiary to the 2014 confidentiality agreement and that Billet
waived anti

- SLAPP protection are similarly unavailing. The district court correctly applied New York law requiring that contracting parties’ intention to
benefit a third party be plain “on the face of the contract

. ” Synovus Bank of Tampa Bay v. Valley Nat'l Bank , 487 F. Supp. 2d 360, 368 (S.D.N.Y. 2007). The confidentiality agreement’s reference to “certain information and documents concerning [Drexler

- Billet’s] fo rmer business and personal interests” is insufficient to conclude that Drexler was an intended beneficiary of the 2014 agreement. Drexler’s waiver argument is derivative of the beneficiary claim , and therefore also
fails.
AFFIRMED.