SLAPP is an acronym for “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation”. This describes a type of lawsuit that is filed to stop a person or a group from speaking out or exercising their First Amendment Rights. To be a true SLAPP suit the Plaintiff typically claims you have damaged their reputation or wrongfully interfered with a right the Plaintiff may claim to have but it is a trojan horse meant to intimate and silence a Defendant.
Enter the Texas Citizens Participation Act, the Great State of Texas enacted this law to protect individuals from SLAPP suits. The TCPA protects your First Amendment Rights such as free speech, the right to petition (ask government for help) and the right of association according to Texas Law Help. The act is also called an “Anti-SLAPP Law” The following is an example used directly from texaslawhelp.org:
Austin Pet Groomers R Us (APGRU) is a dog and cat grooming business in Texas. A Twitter feed called @APGRUsCatDog starts tweeting out messages like “Austin Pet Groomers R Us is a catastrophe; my haircut is uneven” and “I’m barking mad – they forgot to clip my nails.” APGRU files a lawsuit for libel against the owner of @APGRUsCatDog so these tweets will stop.
TEXAS LAW HELP
This libel claim may be a SLAPP lawsuit, and @APGRUsCatDog may be able to use the Texas Citizens Participation Act to dismiss (stop) the lawsuit.
The Texas Citizens participation Act protects your rights by giving you these protections:
- An anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss which asks the court to swiftly end lawsuits that violate the Texas Participation Act.
- The anti-SLAPP motion also stipulates that the other side may be on the hook for your attorney’s fees.
- The court may impose sanctions on the other party to discourage them from filing a SLAPP lawsuit against others in the future.
Source: texaslawhelp.org
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