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11th Circuit Says Anti-SLAPP Law Doesn't Belong in Federal Court

By R. Robin McDonald
February 01, 2019

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected an appeal by CNN to dismiss a libel case over the cable network's 2015 investigation of infant deaths at a Florida hospital. The opinion, penned by Circuit Judge William Pryor, rejected CNN's contention that a pending federal defamation case against the network should be thrown out under Georgia's anti-SLAPP law, O.C.G.A. §9-11-11.1. The unanimous three-judge-panel opinion also dismissed CNN's petition to overturn a 2017 decision by the Northern District of Georgia to not dismiss the case.

Anti-SLAPP statutes — intended to limit the use of SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation — are couched in constitutional free speech principles. Media outlets have used anti-SLAPP statutes as grounds to dismiss pending defamation claims.

The result has been a growing split among the nation's federal circuit courts over whether the heightened standards to pursue litigation set by state anti-SLAPP laws can be used by media outlets to defend themselves in federal courts from libel, defamation and other claims.

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