Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP's) are by nature retaliatory lawsuits. They are designed to stop people from speaking out or taking action. As Wikipedia tells us:

This form of litigation is frequently filed by organizations or individuals to intimidate and silence critics or opponents by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense so that they abandon their criticism or opposition. The acronym was coined in the 1980s by University of Denver professors Penelope Canan and George W. Pring [

Canan and Pring, cited by Wikipedia as coiners of the phrase, describe typical targets of these suits in their book, SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out:

Our study confirms that these suits are a growing legal threat for concerned Americans who speak their minds on issues of importance to their communities, state, or nation:

• every citizen who takes a stand on a public concern;
• everyone who has ever been tempted to 'fight city hall';
• everyone who has ever worked in a political campaign;
• everyone who has ever felt like speaking up on a neighborhood issue;
• everyone who supports a cause;
• everyone who has ever stepped on powerful toes
• everyone who cares if "government by the people' works in America.

Despite the potential initial shock value of a SLAPP, we learn from the Florida Specifier that SLAPPs are a poor strategy choice for industrial facilities facing citizen suits:

What not to do

One reaction to avoid when confronted with a citizen suit is filing a "strategic lawsuit against public participation." These SLAPP suits are legal actions that companies file against environmental groups or individuals that have no merit, and are instead filed to intimidate the plaintiffs into leaving the facility alone. If one of the plaintiffs happen to be a large national environmental group, such a lawsuit is not going to accomplish anything.

A long time ago, the national environmental groups adopted policies of never backing down to SLAPP suits. Even for small groups, their lawyers have likely been through the drill before and know that the only option is to continue to fight. In addition, the environmental community has considerable resources available to defend SLAPP suits and usually rallies around these situations. There is also the fact that SLAPP suits are an anti-democratic, bully tactic.

Something tells us AVX didn't get this memo.

By the way, 26 states have anti-Slapp statutes in place. South Carolina is not one of them.