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Michigan House adopts anti-SLAPP bill and sends to Senate

Court Gavel
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Court Gavel

It would be easier for defendants facing lawsuits filed by business or government interests to ask for swift dismissals if the legal actions are meant to stifle dissent or criticism under a bill adopted Wednesday by the state House.

The bill would allow the targets of lawsuits to seek an expedited hearing for a judge to decide whether a case should go forward.

“It gives an early off ramp before discovery starts in earnest, before there’s a lot of expense involved,” said state Representative Kara Hope (D-Holt), the bill sponsor. “It basically gives a person a chance to go into the court and say, ‘They can’t make a case.’”

She said the interests that file the lawsuits have time, money and attorneys to wait out adversaries they want to silence. She also said that defendants in these lawsuits cannot always afford attorney costs and the time spent time in court defending their free speech and protest rights.

“The plaintiff doesn’t care about winning their case,” she said. “They just want to shut the person up and make them waste a lot of time and money in doing so.”

Representative Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said peoples’ rights are being violated by litigants that have the money and resources to drag out litigation. He proposed an amendment that was adopted in his committee that applied the conditions to government entities as well as businesses and individual plaintiffs.

“Even when you know that your claim, perhaps as a plaintiff, is a loser, you can still use that as a weapon or as a tool to slow people down, stop people,” he said. “I think that just on its face is certainly not how the legal system is intended and I don’t think that’s how it should be used.”

There are carveouts for business disputes and civil rights claims. The bill was adopted with wide bipartisan support and now goes to the state Senate.

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Rick Pluta is the managing editor for the Michigan Public Radio Network.
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