If you believe you are the target of a SLAPP suit, scroll down to "If you have been sued."
Utah's Anti-SLAPP Law: UPEPA Deadlines, Burdens, and Decisions
What the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act does, the deadlines that decide cases before the merits do, and a tracker of Utah court cases and decisions interpreting it.
SLAPPs and UPEPA in Utah
A strategic lawsuit against public participation is a case filed not to win but to cost. The claim may be thin. The point is the expense, the discovery, the depositions, the years. Most people who receive one stop doing whatever prompted it long before a judge ever rules.
Utah's (and many other states') answer is the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, Utah Code § 78B-25-101 through -115. It gives a defendant a special motion for expedited relief that stops the case, shifts the burden to the plaintiff, and makes the plaintiff pay if the motion succeeds.
UPEPA was enacted as S.B. 18 in the 2023 general session, sponsored by Sen. Curt Bramble, and took effect May 3, 2023. That same day it repealed Utah's previous anti-SLAPP law, the Citizen Participation in Government Act, passed in 2001 under the title "Prevention of Retaliatory Lawsuits."
The old law was far narrower. It protected only "participation in the process of government," and a defendant had to file an affidavit explaining what they had done and why they believed the suit was meant to interfere with it. The Reynolds Journalism Institute summarizes how it worked and what changed.
What UPEPA covers
This is where most people get it wrong, in both directions.
Section 78B-25-102 makes the motion available where a cause of action is based on the defendant's:
communication in a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or other governmental proceeding;
communication on an issue under consideration in such a proceeding; or
exercise of the right of freedom of speech or of the press, the right to assemble or petition, or the right of association, under the United States or Utah Constitution, on a matter of public concern.
That third category is broader than "speech." It reaches assembly, petition, and association as independent grounds. Belonging to an organization is protected activity. So is showing up. So is asking government for something. So is running for office.
By definition, SLAPPs are varied. They often arrive as defamation claims, but may also arrive as tortious interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process, breach of contract, stalking injunctions and business torts. The label on the complaint is chosen to avoid looking like what it is. There is no useful checklist of covered situations, and trying to match your facts to someone else's example is the wrong exercise. The question is narrower: does the claim arise from conduct that falls into one of the three categories above?
There is a commercial exclusion, but it is narrower than it first appears. The "goods or services" carve-out expressly does not reach the creation, dissemination, exhibition, or promotion of a dramatic, literary, musical, political, journalistic, or artistic work.
The statute directs that it be construed broadly. It also contains a uniformity provision, which is a caution: UPEPA is not California's anti-SLAPP statute, and California case law is not automatically persuasive here.
The deadlines
UPEPA is a schedule as much as a standard. Miss a date and the substance never gets reached.
60 days to file the motion. The special motion for expedited relief must be filed within 60 days of service under Section 103. A court may allow a later filing for good cause, but that is discretionary.
Everything stops when it is filed. All proceedings between the moving and responding parties, including discovery and any pending hearing or motion, are automatically stayed. Limited discovery is permitted only where a party shows specific information is necessary to establish or defeat a burden under the statute and is not reasonably available otherwise.
60 days to a hearing after filing, unless the court orders later to allow that limited discovery or for good cause.
60 days to a ruling after the hearing.
21 days to appeal. Not 30.
A defendant whose motion is denied in whole or in part may appeal as of right. The statute says the appeal is filed in accordance with Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure, Rule 4, and Rule 4's ordinary deadline is 30 days. But Rule 4(a)(2) carves out UPEPA: when an order denies a motion under Section 78B-25-103, the notice of appeal must be filed within 21 days after entry of the order.
The burden structure
The sequence under Section 107 decides most motions.
First, the moving party must establish that UPEPA applies.
Second, the responding party may establish that it does not, either because the conduct falls outside the statutory categories or because an exemption applies.
Third, if the act applies, the court dismisses unless the responding party establishes a prima facie case as to each essential element. Even then, the moving party may prevail by showing the responding party failed to state a claim, or that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
The court considers the pleadings, the motion, any response, and any evidence that could be considered on summary judgment under Rule 56. A dismissal under UPEPA is with prejudice.
Fees
Fee shifting is not symmetrical, and the asymmetry is deliberate. Under Section 110, if the moving party prevails, the court shall award court costs, reasonable attorney fees, and reasonable litigation expenses related to the motion. If the responding party prevails, it recovers only if the court finds the motion was frivolous or filed solely to delay.
Utah UPEPA decisions
[Tracker table coming]
If you have been sued
This is general information about how the process works. It is not legal advice.
The clock starts at service. Sixty days is not long, and a late motion needs good cause a court is free to reject.
Filing stops the bleeding. Discovery halts automatically. The cost of a SLAPP is the process, so the process pauses.
You do not have to have published anything. The statute reaches assembly, petition, and association as well as speech and press.
The burden moves to the person who sued you. Once you show the act applies, they must establish a prima facie case for every element of every claim.
Winning means they pay. Costs, fees, and expenses related to the motion are mandatory for a prevailing movant. After Aston, expect the award to cover the motion rather than the whole case, so keep time entries that distinguish the two.
If you lose, you can appeal immediately, and you have 21 days. Not 30. This is where cases die for reasons unrelated to their merits.
If the suit was filed before May 3, 2023, UPEPA is not available.
How this page is built, and what it is missing
Entries come from published Utah appellate decisions interpreting Section 78B-25, together with filings and orders provided to us.
This page is not a complete record of UPEPA motions in Utah, and it cannot be. Because a denial is appealable as of right, appellate decisions are findable and systematic. District court rulings mostly are not. And the gap runs one direction: a defendant who wins does not appeal, so the cases least likely to surface publicly are the ones where UPEPA worked.
That is why we publish an incomplete list rather than none. Utah's anti-SLAPP law is relatively new. Most Utah lawyers have never filed one of these motions and most Utah judges have never ruled on one. A partial reference is more useful than an empty one, provided it is honest about being partial.
If you know of a UPEPA motion, order, or decision that is not here, please send it. Trial court orders especially, because those are the ones we cannot find on our own.
Submit a case, a document, or a correction
Email alex@1adocket.org, or tips@1adocket.org if you would rather not write to a person directly.
Briefs, orders, and transcripts all welcome. Tell us if you would prefer not to be named, and we will not name you.
1A Docket publishes information about public records and First Amendment law. Nothing here is legal advice, and contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you have been served with a lawsuit, talk to a lawyer about your own situation and your own deadlines.