On July 15, 2025, Lee Brenner and Alicia Sharon published, “California Judges Ignoring Law to Water Down Anti-SLAPP Rule” in Bloomberg Law. The following is an excerpt:
California’s attempts to discourage strategic lawsuits against public participation—or anti-SLAPP rules—are getting watered down by judges shielding indigent litigants who fail in their claims.
A key feature built into the 1992 statute is its mandatory fee-shifting provision, which mandates that defendants who prevail on their special motion to strike get to recover their costs and attorneys’ fees from plaintiffs. This feature is meant to deter plaintiffs from bringing frivolous lawsuits and allow defendants to end meritless lawsuits at the early stages of litigation while avoiding significant defense costs.
The award of costs and attorneys’ fees to successful defendants aims to make defendants whole. However, recent decisions have shown the limitations of the anti-SLAPP’s fee-shifting provision when losing plaintiffs contend they’re indigent and can’t pay.
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