What is a SLAPP Lawsuit?

We live in an age where anybody can post anything that is critical of someone else, or their business. And particularly if you’re a public figure, they can say anything because defamation laws generally make it very hard to sue those who criticize a public figure.

That can lead to frustration–so much so, that many people feel that if they cannot sue for defamation, they’ll find something to sue for–something that makes the “speaker” of the critical information very sorry for what he or she said or wrote.

The SLAPP Lawsuit

This is called a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or a SLAPP suit.

SLAPP suits are lawsuits that have questionable merit, but they aren’t necessarily filed to win the case–they’re filed to harass the other person (the “speaker”) as punishment for, or to prevent against future, negative speech or criticism against the person suing.

As you might imagine, a lot of these lawsuits are targeted against media outlets, journalists, podcasters, content makers, public protesters, social media pages, or any person, group or organization, whose opinion gets in front of a lot of eyes and ears, and which has a lot of pull in the community.

Meant to Intimidate

For the person being sued, SLAPP suits can be intimidating–there is a large, presumably rich, company or public figure after you, with their “big time lawyers,” and seemingly bottomless pockets. The person or entity being sued, usually cannot match these kinds of resources.

Laws Against SLAPP Suits

Many states including Florida have laws against SLAPP suits, seeing them as being abusive, meritless, and frustrating others’ first amendment rights to speak out legally.

Florida actually has two SLAPP laws.

One is designed specifically to address the homeowners association arena, where the law prevents associations from filing SLAPP lawsuits against homeowners who appear before them and make complaints about the association.

The other is a more general SLAPP law, prohibiting such lawsuits against people who speak out against the government, or who seek changes to the way it works, or who speak out on any public issue.

If someone does file what is believed to be a SLAPP suit, the other side can move to have it dismissed, and the law specifically says that the motion must be addressed as soon and as quickly as possible.

Of course, that still doesn’t make it easy for courts, as many entities or people who file SLAPP suits, disguise their true intentions. So the court has to decide whether a lawsuit is genuine, with real genuine grievances, or whether it’s just meant to threaten and harass the speaker–a determination that is tough to do in the early stages of a lawsuit.

The winner of SLAPP lawsuits, whether by verdict or by a motion to dismiss the claim,  can also get their attorneys fees. But both sides can be awarded fees if they win–so someone who tries to dismiss a SLAPP suit and loses, can also end up paying attorneys fees.

Call our West Palm Beach commercial litigation attorneys at Pike & Lustig for help with your SLAPP or commercial litigation lawsuit.

Source:

rcfp.org/anti-slapp-guide/florida/