Grade: B
Louisiana has a good anti-SLAPP law. It was enacted in 1999.
| Jurisdiction | Statute or Case Law? | Any Forum? | Any Public Issue? | Mandatory Attorney Fees/Costs? | Additional Burden? | Amendment After Grant? | Amendment While Pending? | Immediate Appeal? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | La. Code. Civ. Proc. Ann. art 971 (2010) | Y | Y | Y | ? | N | Y |
LA. CODE CIV. PROC. ANN. art. 971 (1999)
Acts in furtherance of petition and free speech in connection with a public issue are protected.
The Baton Rouge television station WBRZ-TV faced a lawsuit for defamation from a former police officer, though the station’s attorney said the suit should be dismissed under Louisiana’s anti-SLAPP law.
A fired Southern University Law Center Professor filed a defamation lawsuit against a family and a fellow attorney who accused her of using her position for wrongdoing. Her attorney warned that anyone who has recently questioned the Professor’s behavior should “buckle up and get ready” to be served with a lawsuit of their own.
A local Louisiana broadcaster faced a defamation suit, and tried to use the state anti-SLAPP statute as a defense.
In 2003, former University of Louisiana at Monroe professor John Scott was sued on the basis of comments he made in an anonymous website called the “Truth at ULM” that criticized the university administration. Richard Baxter, the university’s then vice president for external affairs, sued Scott ...
In Louisiana in 2009, the Lake Charles American Press was able to invoke the state’s anti-SLAPP law to dismiss a suit brought against it by a jet company, after the newspaper ran a series of reports that the company had sold contaminated fuel to the military.
