Stopping SLAPPs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a bill that makes it easier for victims of SLAPP litigation to get damages.

A SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, is a suit filed solely for the purpose of chilling free speech. The suits are frequently filed against media organizations by individuals claiming libel or by real estate developers against citizens or neighborhood groups that are protesting projects.

Under state law, victims of a meritless SLAPP action will receive reimbursement for attorney's fees and may file a malicious prosecution suit in order to obtain further damages. In 2002, the California Supreme Court reduced their ability to obtain such damages by specifying that only those who get a case dismissed in trial court, not on appeal, may seek malicious prosecution claims.

The recent bill, authored by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, would eliminate those restrictions and allow more people to seek damages by filing malicious prosecution claims.

"You never know when you want to exercise your First Amendment rights, and when you do, you don't want the sky to cave in on you," said Mark Goldowitz, director of the California Anti-SLAPP Project, which lobbied heavily for the bill, along with the California Medical Association, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the California Broadcasters Association and the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League. "This makes it easier to recover damages in that situation and maybe it'll have a deterrent effect on SLAPPs."