Xref: utzoo misc.legal:15112 news.admin:8422
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!bridge2!jarthur!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!amdahl!pyramid!ctnews!unix386!jms
From: jms@unix386.Convergent.COM (John Sully)
Newsgroups: misc.legal,news.admin
Subject: SLAPP suits ( was Re: slamming a company's products...)
Summary: SLAPP suits
Message-ID: <894@unix386.Convergent.COM>
Date: 1 Mar 90 04:05:30 GMT
References: <1839@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> <7945@yunexus.UUCP>
Organization: Unisys/Convergent, San Jose, CA
Lines: 18

In article <7945@yunexus.UUCP>, davecb@yunexus.UUCP (David Collier-Brown) writes:
| eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) writes:
| [in a discussion of threatened legal action for stating an opinion]
|   The term "vexatious litigation" comes to mind...  somehow these
| actions never seem to actually occur.  I suspect they're urban legends.
|   I can't comment on U.S. law, but I do recollect a person backing out of
| such an action with amazing aclarity when one of his colleagues mentioned
| the law society...

Actually this is apparently becoming an increasingly common practice
and is known as a SLAPP suit.  

These suits are typically being brought by developers against local activits
who dare to voice their negative opinion of proposed developments.
(the source for this is a story seen on MacNeil/Lehrer about the middle of
2/90).  This story did not cite any suits which were won, but the point is
to scare people into not voicing their opinions on matters of public 
interest.