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Protection against lawsuits that muzzle citizens

An industrial complex wants to move into your neighbourhood and asks your town to change its zoning laws. You gather your neighbours to protest against this project. In the morning, a bailiff hands you papers: the industrial complex is suing you for 1 million dollars for “tarnishing its reputation”.

What is a Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation (SLAPP)?

It’s exactly what is happening to you. A SLAPP is using the court system to intimidate people and to discourage them from exercising their rights.

Whether or not it is justified, think about everything that a lawsuit entails: the risk of losing one’s house and savings, the need to defend one’s self, the explanations that must be furnished, etc.

Luckily, the law was changed to make SLAPPs difficult to exercise.

How is a SLAPP avoided?

A judge who thinks that the lawsuit against you is intended to discourage you from exercising your rights can now do something about it. She can ask the person suing you to establish that what he is asking for is reasonable.

If the person suing you fails to prove to the judge that what he is asking for is reasonable, the judge can:


There are also cases where it isn’t clear whether or not the lawsuit is abusive. After all, it isn’t necessarily obvious before the trial takes place! In those circumstances, the judge can:



Are the new powers given to the judge reserved only for SLAPPs?

No. You can ask a judge to intervene this way for any abusive request. Be careful! You have to distinguish between a normal request that you disagree with and an abusive one. You can disagree with what the person suing you is asking for but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have good reasons to ask for it.