Wyoming lawmakers sponsored a bill Monday that aims to block lawsuits intended to silence free speech. The full Legislature will consider the proposed measure during the legislative session in January.
Wyoming remains one of a handful of states without a law to prevent “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” known as an anti-SLAPP statute. SLAPPs are usually civil complaints brought by powerful people to silence critics through the stress and high costs of lawsuits regardless of their legal merits. Anti-SLAPP laws are meant to protect people who face such retaliatory litigation.
State lawmakers are trying again to get an anti-SLAPP measure on the books after similar legislation died two years in a row. Legislators argued that previous bill proposals had too many holes. They suggested taking a deeper dive and crafting a different anti-SLAPP bill for the 2027 legislative session.
The new bill draft is based on the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, a model anti-SLAPP law made by the Uniform Law Commission, a nonprofit organization of state-based commissioners who aim to craft laws that offer consistency across states.
The bill might still be fine-tuned. Beth Lance, an attorney speaking on behalf of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, asked lawmakers on the Joint Judiciary Committee to add an exception to the bill for bodily injury, wrongful death or survival actions, as well as statements made about such legal action, unless those statements could fall under defamation.
If someone files a medical malpractice lawsuit, Lance explained as an example, the bill might allow a doctor to have the complaint dismissed. The complaint then wouldn’t be able to move forward “on the actual grounds to analyze whether or not there was a negligence claim,” Lance said.
The Joint Judiciary Committee didn’t add these suggestions Monday, with lawmakers noting that the draft bill includes a broad exemption for bringing complaints against people who sell or lease goods or services, with some exceptions. But there’s still time for lawmakers to take a closer look at those concerns during the legislative session.
“I don’t have the language in mind today, but I do think it’s something we continue to look at, because I understand the points, and I think there’s merit in some of those points,” said Sen. Barry Crago, an attorney and Republican lawmaker representing Johnson and Sheridan counties.
