Lawyers Hail New Massachusetts Retaliatory Suit Protocol (1)

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s latest overhaul of the process for defeating a retaliatory lawsuit brought to chill free speech will broaden First Amendment protections and streamline litigation, business and employment lawyers say.

The justices on Thursday revised the process for dismissing a case under the state’s anti-SLAPP law, which was passed to protect people from strategic lawsuits brought against them for public participation. The law was meant to create a quick pathway for courts to throw out those types of meritless lawsuits, but the process became overly complex in recent years with the addition of a second pathway for ...