Florida Gives News Outlets Win, Opens Door to Anti-SLAPP Appeals

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday gave news companies and others facing potentially frivolous anti-First Amendment lawsuits a path to have an adverse ruling reviewed quickly.

Florida’s “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” law, better known as “anti-SLAPP”, doesn’t explicitly give appeals courts the ability to review denied requests to dismiss defamation lawsuits before the case is completely litigated, the state Supreme Court said in a 6-1 ruling.

The justices ultimately ruled against a blogger facing such a suit, saying the law doesn’t provide “traditional immunity” from such lawsuits like other statutes do, Justice Jamie R. Grosshans wrote.

However, the court ...