An Alaska Native corporation dropped a $24 million lawsuit against a California reporter and two news outlets. The corporation originally claimed a story investigating the company's federal contract for replacing railway structures in California damaged its reputation.
Read MorePPP Board Member Sophia Cope and PPP Policy Director Evan Mascagni were recently quoted in a front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle on SLAPPs.
“There are bullies out there who seek to silence individuals for speaking out on matters of public interest,” said Evan Mascagni...
Read MoreFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
HOUSE PASSES CONSUMER REVIEW FAIRNESS ACT!
September 12, 2016
The Public Participation Project (PPP) applauds the United States House of Representatives for passing the Consumer Review Fairness Act!
Read MorePPP Board Member Jeremy Rosen recently authored an Op-Ed for the Hill advocating for enactment of the Speak Free Act.
"The SPEAK FREE Act provides a mechanism for federal courts to promptly dismiss those baseless lawsuits that are designed to punish people for speaking out."
Read MorePPP Policy Director Evan Mascagni was recently quoted in a USA Today article about Donald Trump and SLAPPs:
Trump isn’t alone in trying to “hijack the judicial system” to silence critics, said Evan Mascagni, policy director at the Public Participation Project, an advocacy group lobbying for a federal anti-SLAPP law.
Read MoreTo stop consumer gag clauses and other practices known as strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits, state and federal legislators are moving toward laws specifically spelling out consumers’ rights to post negative, fact-based reviews.
Read MoreA defamation lawsuit against several parents of former students at Agora Cyber Charter School quietly ended after 7 1/2 years. Officials closed the case because there had been no activity for more than two years.
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Since the introduction of the SPEAK FREE Act of 2015 in May, momentum has been building to enact this important legislation. The bill now has more than 30 co-sponsors in the House and there was a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on June 22, 2016. You can view that hearing here.
Here is just some of the coverage that the Speak Free Act has been receiving:
Read MorePPP Policy Director Evan Mascagni was recently quoted in a Politico article about SLAPPs and Donald Trump:
Trump’s litigiousness has extended into the presidential campaign. In November, following reports of a $2.5 million pro-Kasich super PAC investment in anti-Trump ads, Trump tweeted: “I will sue him just for fun!
In some cases, he has openly acknowledged that going to court is less about seeking justice and more about joyfully punishing enemies.
Read MoreA Texas couple faced a lawsuit filed by their petsitter for $6,766 over a negative Yelp review. After that case was dropped, the petsitter re-filed the suit as a full-on defamation lawsuit seeking up to $1 million in damages. The couple asked the court to throw the entire case out because it should be prohibited by the Texas anti-SLAPP law.
Read MoreA substantial bipartisan effort is underway to enact anti-SLAPP protections.
By Michael Arria / AlterNet
May 18, 2016
Currently 28 states have some kind of anti-SLAPP statutory protection. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, which refers to litigation intended to silence critics by sticking them with the need for an exorbitant legal defense.
Read MoreTwo men who sued Dollar General for defamation of character after an employee in a store called police in June 2014 to complain about the men standing outside the store have now settled out of court.
Read MorePPP Board Member Laura Prather recently published a piece for Lexology about the need for federal anti-SLAPP legislation:
“Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (otherwise known as “SLAPP” suits) are more prevalent than ever given the ease of communication and multitude of platforms available for getting messages out. They are gaining even more notoriety in the presidential election since candidate Donald Trump vowed to “open up” the current libel laws to further protect him from facing public criticism.
Read MorePPP Policy Director Evan Mascagni was recently quoted in an article about SLAPPs and the SPEAK FREE Act by Gene Policinski:
The proposed law would allow defendants to transfer lawsuits from state to federal courts, particularly valuable in 22 states that do not have an anti-SLAPP law or in those with weak protection. Farenthold said the law also will provide a means in federal court to quickly resolve a SLAPP lawsuit “before the legal fees run up.”
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