The Gazette: After several years of controversial court decisions, the 2019 Colorado General Assembly passed an anti-SLAPP law. SLAPP stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” These are lawsuits that arise out of, and in one way or another challenge, speech arguably protected by the First Amendment.

The Legislature, in passing the anti-SLAPP law, said the purpose is to safeguard the right “to petition, speak freely, associate freely, and otherwise participate in government” from the chilling effect of “abuse of the judicial process.” On the other hand, the Legislature recognized the need to protect “the rights of persons to file meritorious lawsuits for demonstrable injury.”

The basic idea behind the Colorado SLAPP statute, which is modeled after a similar California law, is to get a quick (as such things go) decision from a court whether a lawsuit involves a meritorious claim that should be allowed to proceed or is instead unacceptably stepping on the toes of someone engaging in constitutionally protected activities.

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