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ASNE joins amicus in Anti-SLAPP case against Redskins owner
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 07/20/2011 09:45:00
- In: Amicus briefs
ASNE joined several other media organizations in an amicus brief filed this week 
by the American Civil Liberties Union because it will be the first test of the District's Anti-SLAPP statute.
Earlier this year, Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder filed a defamation suit against the alternative weekly Washington City Paper that many thought was frivolous. The City Paper filed a motion to dismiss under the District of Columbia's Anti-SLAPP statute, which offers relief against abusive lawsuits by providing for accelerated dismissal and requiring losing plaintiffs to pay defendants' attorney's fees. ASNE joined several other media organizations in an amicus brief filed this week by the American Civil Liberties Union because it will be the first test of the District's Anti-SLAPP statute. The brief discusses Anti-SLAPP laws in general — in addition to the District, 26 states and Guam have one — and urges the Superior Court to broadly interpret the statute.