Federal Proposal for Unifying Anti-Slapp Laws

Damien Allen: Good morning and welcome to Traverse Legal Radio. My name is Damien Allen and joining me today on the phone is Attorney Mark Clark of Traverse Legal, PLC. Good morning, Mark. Welcome to the program.

 

Mark Clark: Good morning, Damien.  

 

 

 

Mark Clark: Damien, SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation and the term SLAPP was coined by two Denver University Professors about three decades ago or so and they recognized that people were being prevented from engaging in public discourse in traditional public forums because they were afraid of being sued for defamation, primarily, and so the word SLAPP was coined because it described a phenomenon that was occurring where folks or businesses or corporations with lots of money would use the defamation law to intimidate people from speaking out simply by filing a lawsuit. So, that is what SLAPP stands for. 

 

Damien Allen: What is the anti-SLAPP law? Wouldn’t this be detrimental to our first amendment rights of free speech? 

 

Mark Clark: That’s absolutely correct, Damien, It was frustrating free speech, so about two decades ago or so, various states began enacting anti-SLAPP legislation which essentially was legislation that would allow somebody who is being sued for defamation based on an item of public interest, to end the lawsuit early by filling a motion and meeting certain thresholds where the courts could determine that the issue being sued over or the information or the defamation, if you will, that was being sued over was a matter of public concern, number one, and that if statements substantially true, then the court could go ahead at an early stage and dismiss these intimidation lawsuits. And so, that is how the anti-SLAPP legislation has evolved and last year in mid-December, a Representative Steve Cohen who is a Democrat from Tennessee introduced a house bill called the Citizen Participation Act of 2009 which is essentially a Federal anti-SLAPP law. What that law would do is essentially carry over what the various states have been doing for anti-SLAPP and carry it over to the federal level so that all of the United States would have an anti-SLAPP remedy. Today, there’s about maybe half the states have enacted anti-SLAPP laws and this federal law would essentially put in place an anti-SLAPP law that would be the law of the land that could be utilized in all 50 states to prevent these intimidation lawsuits from occurring so that public discourse was unnecessarily quelled.

 

Damien Allen: What is the proposed Federal anti-SLAPP law, Mark?

 

Mark Clark: The Federal anti-SLAPP law, or the Citizen Participation Act of 2009 is simply a bill at this point. But it introduces for the very first time at the federal level, a law which would, as I’ve indicated, be an anti-SLAPP law, which as we’ve described earlier, is a law that’s designed to end intimidation and harassment lawsuits at a very early stage by those who have brought it in effort to quell public discourse by intimidation through lawsuits.

 

Damien Allen: What are the benefits to a Federal anti-SLAPP law being enacted?

 

Mark Clark: Well, the benefit is that it would be available in all 50 states. As I’ve indicated, currently only about half the states in the United State have anit-SLAPP laws. Michigan, for instance, does not have an anti-SLAPP law and so arguably, it is much easier for somebody with money and means to file lawsuits to quiet issues of public concern that they want to have quieted. 

 

Damien Allen: Is there anything else you would like to add to this, Mark?

 

Mark Clark: I think we’ve covered the area pretty well, Damien and thick it’s interesting that it’s finally being recognized. The anti-SLAPP law is finally being recognized on a national level so that citizens can be protected from that type of harassment that quells free speech on a nationwide basis, and frankly, I am a supporter. 

 

Damien Allen: Thank you for joining us today and discussing the proposed Federal Anti-SLAPP law, Mark.

 

Mark Clark: Terrific, Damien. It’s always a pleasure to be on the show.

 

Damien Allen: And always a pleasure to have you. You’ve been listening to Traverse Legal Radio. My name is Damien Allen. Everybody have a great afternoon.

 

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