In aims of strengthening its SLAPP protections, Hawaii’s legislature passed the “Hawaii Public Expression Protection Act.”

A federal judge in Hawaii refused to dismiss a producer’s libel lawsuit against a woman who accused him of rape. However, the judge agreed that the case should be governed by the California anti-SLAPP statute, though the producer’s attorneys had argued that the case should be governed by Hawaii’s anti-SLAPP law.

The Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii affirmed the circuit court’s decision in holding that a lawsuit did not constitute a SLAPP under the state’s anti-SLAPP law.