Montana

After The Billings Gazette filed a public records request on a potential tip about mishandling of public money at a Montana landfill, the city of Billings, MT, filed a lawsuit against the paper. The editor of the paper characterized the city’s legal response as a SLAPP suit. Though the state does not have an anti-SLAPP law, the newspaper won, and the city agreed to pay about $12,000 in attorneys’ fees.