SLAPPs are lawsuits used to silence critics and journalists by threatening them with potentially ruinous legal costs. The private member’s bill, brought by Wayne David MP, will allow judges to dismiss ‘frivolous claims’ before they go to court, protecting defendants from paying high costs.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson welcomed the Bill but warned it required modification to achieve its aims, ‘including whether the definition of a SLAPP should also cover potentially abusive behaviour by the defendant in a case, either in the course of their defence or a counterclaim’.
Emmerson also suggested significant re-drafting of what is defined as ‘in the public interest’ and expressed concern about whether the Bill, ‘as currently drawn, strikes the correct balance between rights to respect private and family life and rights of freedom of expression’.
