Last week, in Bristol Asphalt v. Rochester Bituminous Products, the SJC jettisoned two prior decisions and revised its directions to lower courts regarding how to handle “special motions to dismiss” under Massachusetts’ so-called “Anti-SLAPP” statute. If you don’t know what SLAPP stands for, you can just stop reading now.
The purpose of the Anti-SLAPP statute is, in brief, to prevent large corporations from stifling petitioning activities by citizen groups. … More