(Radio Iowa) – Iowa House has — for a fourth year — passed the “Public Expression Protection Act” to help Iowans facing lawsuits that backers of the bill say are meant to intimidate critics.
Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison sponsored the bill after a former Carroll policeman sued the local newspaper for what Holt says was truthful reporting on the policeman’s relationships with teenage girls — and the Carroll Times Herald had to spend 100-thousand dollars on a legal defense. Holt’s bill would let Iowans being sued over public statements ask a judge to immediately review the case to see if it could be thrown out.
If the lawsuit is ruled a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation” or SLAPP action, the person or group that filed the lawsuit could be forced to cover the legal fees of the person they sued. Thirty-four other states already have so-called “anti-SLAPP” laws.
