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Senate Judiciary hears testimony on bill to speed dismissal of meritless suits against volunteers
Summary
Witnesses told the Senate Judiciary committee that S.151 would let covered volunteers move to quickly strike unmeritorious civil claims, modeled on Vermont's anti-SLAPP law and the federal Volunteer Protection Act; committee members suggested minor edits and requested further witnesses. No vote was taken.
Benjamin Brickner, a Pompa resident and member of the Pompa Select Board, told the Senate Judiciary committee on Feb. 10 that Senate Bill 151 would protect community volunteers from being named individually in lawsuits used to extract settlements from organizations. "Individual volunteers are too often named as defendants personally in lawsuits, not because of anything they've done, not because of their conduct, but to gain settlement leverage over the organizations that they're serving," Brickner said.
Brickner said the bill is modeled on Vermont's existing anti-SLAPP statute (Title 12, A7 1041) and aligns with the federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997. Under the draft, a covered volunteer sued for volunteer activity…
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