A Matter of Interpretation - Is Application of the Bay State's Anti-SLAPP Statute Too Broad?
August 21, 2007
Robert S. Murphy, Jr., Esq.
In 2006, concerned citizens of the town of Falmouth filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court seeking review of a decision of the state Department of Environmental Protection. The suit named both the department and the town. The town responded with counterclaims against the plaintiff/citizens for malicious prosecution and abuse of process, essentially claiming that action was only brought as a tactic to delay the community's plan to construct a sewer collection and treatment system.
What makes the case remarkable was the town's aggressive choice to counterclaim against its residents for protesting proposed land development. The trial court recently dismissed the town's counterclaim under the provisions of the anti-SLAPP statute and awarded the plaintiff/citizens $30,000 in fees expended in defense of the town's counterclaims. This case demonstrates how the reach of the anti-SLAPP statute has evolved.
In 1994, Massachusetts enacted the so-called anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (anti-SLAPP) law. Since then, the statute has been widely used in many circumstances perhaps never envisioned by the original lawmakers.
The Mass. Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) describes the original legislative purpose behind anti-SLAPP as a quick method to dispose of meritless suits brought by large private interests intended to deter or punish common citizens from petitioning the government in lawful exercise of their political or legal rights. Plaintiffs in SLAPP lawsuits commonly allege that the defendant defamed them, maliciously prosecuted claims, or otherwise unlawfully interfered with the plaintiff's business interests.
When the first cases involving anti-SLAPP reached the trial court, many judges inferred the existence of a requirement that the matter involve a matter of 'public concern.' The SJC subsequently rejected that narrow interpretation of the statute, ...
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BusinessWest
August 6, 2007
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