Washington State has now changed their anti-SLAPP laws in an effort to restore the protections after the courts ruled their prior versions unconstitutional.
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Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast series Good Law | Bad Law, was joined by Brenda Skylstad to discuss her role in creating important anti-SLAPP legislation.
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From Mike Masnick at TechDirt:
"For years, we’ve talked about the importance of anti-SLAPP laws that help quickly toss out lawsuits whose sole purpose are to silence critics. A key point that we’ve made is the need for a federal anti-SLAPP law, because until then, we’re at the mercy of a patchwork of state laws. Some states have no anti-SLAPP law. Some have weak ones. A few have strong ones. In just the past month alone we’ve discussed Florida strengthening its anti-SLAPP law, and Nevada’s attempt to weaken its anti-SLAPP law. Meanwhile, a court in DC issued a ruling that greatly limited the effectiveness of DC’s anti-SLAPP law
Read MoreIn Washington state, in 1986, police entered the homes of two Roma (Gypsy) families on a faulty warrant and searched family members – including a baby – who were not the subjects of the warrant. The families sought $59 million in damages, and the city and county countersued in federal court, alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Read MoreIn 2001 in Washington State, a number of citizen groups and individuals opposed the land developer Right-Price’s proposal to build several new houses in a historic area. In response to the opposition, Right-Price sued several associations and individuals, seeking damages for slander, commercial disparagement, tortious interference, and civil conspiracy.
Read MoreIn Washington state, a local organic farmer was arrested in a traffic stop the courts ruled was an illegal “pretext stop.” He filed a federal civil rights suit, and the city attorney’s office countersued for malicious prosecution, and for defamation based upon “outlandish statements” he made about the police officer involved in the arrest.
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