Lawmakers hear survivors, advocates in support of bill shielding speakers from retaliatory defamation suits

Survivors, advocates and legal scholars urged the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on Nov. 2 to advance H1974/S1143, legislation that would make it harder for plaintiffs to use defamation lawsuits as a tool to intimidate people who speak about sexual misconduct or other abuses.

The bill would shift the burden by requiring a plaintiff who sues a speaker about alleged misconduct to prove actual malice — that the speaker either knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth — and to pay the defendant’s fees and actual damages if the defendant prevails. Supporters said that fee-shifting is necessary to make representation realistically available to survivors and to deter meritless suits brought to silence…