What is a SLAPP lawsuit, and does insurance pay to fight one?

What is a SLAPP suit?

SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation. It is a suit over something a person said, wrote or published on a public issue, brought less to win than to make speaking expensive. It is usually pleaded as defamation, and sometimes as invasion of privacy, interference with a business or emotional distress.

The defendants are reporters, newspapers and stations, and also people who never thought of themselves as publishers: a customer who reviewed a contractor, a resident who spoke at a council meeting, a blogger, a nonprofit that criticized a developer. The cost of answering the suit is the point, and a weak claim can run for a year before a court reaches the merits.

How anti-SLAPP statutes work

An anti-SLAPP statute gives the defendant an early motion. The defendant shows the suit arises from protected speech on a public issue, and the burden moves to the plaintiff to show real evidence of a winnable claim before the case goes on. In the states with strong statutes, discovery stops while the motion is decided, and a defendant who wins recovers attorney’s fees.

California’s statute, Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16, is the one most others are compared to. The defendant files a special motion to strike within 60 days of service, discovery is stayed when it is filed, the plaintiff must establish a probability of prevailing, a prevailing defendant is entitled to its fees and costs, and either side can appeal the ruling at once.

Texas works the same way under the Citizens Participation Act. The motion is due within 60 days of service, discovery is suspended, the plaintiff must establish each element by clear and specific evidence, and on dismissal the court shall award the defendant its costs and reasonable fees. New York broadened its law in 2020 to any communication in a public place or forum on an issue of public interest, requires the plaintiff to prove actual malice by clear and convincing evidence, and awards fees when the suit had no substantial basis in fact and law.

Other states differ widely. Some have statutes as strong as these, some protect only speech to a government body, and some have none. Federal courts are split on whether a state statute applies there at all. The Second Circuit said California’s does not, and the Ninth Circuit applies it. Where a suit is filed can decide whether the motion exists, and a media lawyer answers that question first.

Does media liability pay for an anti-SLAPP motion?

Yes, as part of defending a covered claim. A media liability policy defends claims of defamation, invasion of privacy and copyright or trademark infringement arising from what you publish, and most forms pay that defense whether or not the claim has merit. An anti-SLAPP motion is a defense step like any other, so it is paid the same way, after the deductible.

The defense clause decides who runs it. Many media forms give the insurer the right and duty to defend, which means it appoints or approves the lawyer, and some let you choose your own media counsel subject to the insurer’s consent and its rates. Whether to file the motion is a decision made with that lawyer and the insurer, and the 60-day clock in California and Texas is why the complaint should reach the insurer immediately.

Defense costs usually sit inside the limit on media forms, so the motion, a hearing and an appeal reduce what is left for a settlement or a judgment. On a $1,000,000 policy that matters most to a small publisher, whose likeliest bad outcome is a long fight it wins. Some forms pay defense in addition to the limit, or add a separate defense limit, for more premium.

General liability is different. Its personal and advertising injury coverage includes libel and slander for an ordinary business, so a restaurant sued over its reply to a review may be defended there. It excludes insureds in the business of publishing or broadcasting, and from January 2026 it can carry ISO’s CG 40 48, which removes the coverage for anything arising out of generative AI.

Who keeps the fee award?

The statute awards fees to the defendant, and the policy decides what happens next. Most forms give the insurer a right to recover what it paid, through a subrogation or recoveries clause, and some say whether your deductible is repaid before the insurer is. Read that clause on the quote and ask in writing if it is silent.

An award is also only worth what the plaintiff can pay. A suit brought to drain a defendant is sometimes brought by someone who will not pay the award without a further fight. The policy pays the defense as it happens, which is the reason to have it even in a state with a strong statute.