Lawsuit: SLAPP Suit

What is a SLAPP suit?

Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP, is a phrase coined by US researchers to describe a class of lawsuit that seems designed more to silence public criticism than to receive legitimate compensation. The SLAPP phenomenon is comparatively new in Canada, but the number of SLAPP-like suits is increasing.

"In contrast to most litigation, the SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) is brought, not to resolve a problem, but to remove a controversy from the political arena...

"A Law School study of 228 SLAPP suits found that the SLAPP targets prevailed in approximately 77% of all cases, but that they were considerably more effective with regard to small community groups, particularly where the membership is less affluent and tend to have little familiarity with the legal system. On the other hand, the larger, well-organized national environmental groups are generally unaffected by the threat or commencement of such suits."

AAS note: The SPCA has not threatened to sue any newspaper, such as the Times Colonist that published the letter from Cheryl Dawson that the SPCA alleges was false and libelous.

Read other SLAPP suits brought by humane societies against critics here
For more information on SLAPPs (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation), go to SLAPP Info.

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