Litigation

The need for federal anti-SLAPP law

By Ted Frank

Paul Alan Levy documents how Dan Snyder forum-shopped to find a jurisdiction where he could harass investigative journalists who criticized him without running into anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law. I have first-hand experience with a wealthy person trying to put himself above criticism through threatening and engaging in expensive meritless litigation, so if Public Citizen wants someone from across the aisle to support Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)'s proposed federal bill, they should contact me.

Doctors have recently discovered the use of SLAPP suits: recently-disciplined California cosmetic surgeon Usha Rajagopal has forum-shopped a defamation suit in Virginia; Minnesota neurologist David McKee is suing the family of a patient over at least one statement on a website that he admits in a deposition to be true.

Full post as published by Point of Law on March 11, 2011 (boomark / email).