Legal Definitions - SLAPP suit

A SLAPP suit, which stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, is a type of lawsuit filed not to genuinely win a legal dispute, but rather to intimidate, silence, or financially burden individuals or groups who are speaking out on issues of public concern. The primary goal of a SLAPP suit is to prevent critics from continuing to express negative opinions or share information publicly, often by forcing them to spend significant time and money defending themselves in court, regardless of the lawsuit's actual legal merit. These lawsuits are seen as a threat to free speech because they can discourage people from participating in public discourse for fear of legal retaliation. Many states have enacted "Anti-SLAPP" laws to help defendants quickly dismiss such baseless lawsuits and sometimes even recover their legal costs.

Here are some examples of how a SLAPP suit might arise:

• Environmental Activism: A local community organization publishes a detailed report on its website, raising concerns about the potential environmental impact of a large corporation's proposed factory expansion. The report cites publicly available scientific data and expert opinions. In response, the corporation files a lawsuit against the community organization, alleging defamation and seeking millions in damages, claiming the report contains false statements that harm its business reputation. However, the corporation's primary aim is not to win the defamation claim, but to drain the organization's limited financial resources and force them to cease their public opposition to the factory.

  This illustrates a SLAPP suit because the lawsuit is likely intended to silence public criticism of a development project and exhaust the resources of the community group, rather than genuinely seeking to prove and remedy defamation.

• Consumer Review/Whistleblower: A former employee of a private nursing home publicly shares information with local news outlets and regulatory agencies about alleged unsafe patient care practices they witnessed. The nursing home then sues the former employee for breach of a non-disclosure agreement and trade secret violations, demanding a substantial sum in damages. The information shared by the employee primarily concerned public health and safety, not proprietary business secrets. The lawsuit's true purpose is to punish the whistleblower for speaking out and deter other employees from revealing similar issues.

  This is an example of a SLAPP suit because the nursing home is using the legal system to retaliate against a former employee for exposing information in the public interest, aiming to suppress further disclosures rather than to legitimately enforce a contract.

• Local Government Criticism: A resident posts a series of critical comments on a neighborhood online forum, questioning a city council member's voting record on zoning issues and suggesting potential conflicts of interest related to campaign donations from a specific real estate developer. The city council member then files a libel lawsuit against the resident, demanding the removal of the posts and seeking monetary damages. The resident's comments were largely opinion-based or drew conclusions from publicly accessible campaign finance records. The council member's intent is to shut down public discussion and criticism of their actions related to local development, rather than to genuinely address a factual falsehood.

  This demonstrates a SLAPP suit as the lawsuit targets a private citizen's public commentary on a public official's conduct, with the likely goal of stifling free speech and discouraging further scrutiny of local governance.