Iowa: Anti-SLAPP Laws

The short answer

Iowa enacted the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA) in 2025,
codified at Iowa Code ch. 652. It applies only to a civil action filed on
or after July 1, 2025 — before that date, Iowa had no anti-SLAPP statute
of any kind. If you're sued over a communication in a government
proceeding or over free speech, press, assembly, petition, or association
activity on a matter of public concern, you can file a special motion for
expedited relief within 60 days of being served. Filing it automatically
stays the case, including discovery. The court then applies a
summary-judgment-style screen, and a prevailing movant recovers fees and
costs as a matter of course. Only the defendant who files the motion can
immediately appeal, only from a denial, and only within 30 days.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Iowa's anti-SLAPP law is the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act,
Iowa Code ch. 652 (§§ 652.1–652.12), created by House File 472 (2025 Acts
ch. 93) and applying to any civil action filed on or after July 1, 2025.
Iowa had no prior anti-SLAPP statute; every section of the chapter is new
law with no earlier version to compare against.

What speech or conduct is protected

The Act reaches a cause of action based on a communication in a
legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or other governmental
proceeding; a communication on an issue under consideration or review by
such a body; or the exercise of free speech, press, assembly/petition, or
association rights on a matter of public concern. The "goods or services"
term used later in the commercial-speech exemption specifically excludes
creative, literary, musical, political, journalistic, and artistic work,
so that kind of expression stays protected even near the edge of that
exemption.

The special motion for expedited relief

File within 60 days of being served with the pleading that asserts the
claim, or later on a showing of good cause. The court must hold a hearing
within 60 days of the motion being filed — extended by up to 60 more days
if the court allows limited discovery, or for other good cause — and must
rule within 60 days after that hearing. Filing the motion automatically
stays every other proceeding between the moving party and the responding
party, including discovery and any pending hearing or motion. A party can
still get limited discovery during the stay by showing specific
information is necessary to resolve the motion and isn't otherwise
reasonably available.

Burden of proof

The court considers the pleadings, the motion, any response, and whatever
evidence would be admissible on a summary-judgment motion under Iowa Rule
of Civil Procedure 1.981. The court must dismiss with prejudice if the
movant shows the Act applies, the responding party fails to show an
exemption takes the claim back out of the Act's coverage, and either the
responding party fails to make a prima facie case on every essential
element of the claim, or the movant affirmatively shows the responding
party failed to state a claim at all, or that there's no genuine issue of
material fact and the movant wins as a matter of law.

Attorney's fees

An award of court costs, reasonable attorney fees, and reasonable
litigation expenses is mandatory for a prevailing movant. The same
mandatory award goes the other way — to the responding party — only if the
court finds the motion was brought frivolously or filed solely to delay
the case.

Right to appeal

Only the moving party — the defendant who filed the special motion — may
appeal as a matter of right, and only from an order denying the motion in
whole or in part. The appeal must be filed within 30 days of the order.
Iowa's statute sets that 30-day deadline directly in its own text, rather
than pointing to a separate appellate rule for the timing.

Exemptions

The Act doesn't apply to claims against a governmental unit or an official
acting in an official capacity, or to a government enforcement action
protecting against an imminent threat to public health or safety. It also
doesn't apply to a claim against a person primarily engaged in selling or
leasing goods or services, where the claim arises from a communication
related to that sale or lease — but that exemption doesn't reach creative,
political, journalistic, or artistic work, which is excluded from the
"goods or services" definition in the first place.

What trips people up

The law only covers cases filed on or after July 1, 2025. If the
lawsuit against you was filed before that date, Iowa's UPEPA doesn't apply
at all — there's no earlier anti-SLAPP statute to fall back on either,
since Iowa had none.

The appeal right runs only one way, and only from a denial, with its own
30-day clock. A losing plaintiff whose claim gets dismissed has no
matching statutory right to an immediate appeal, and a losing defendant
who misses the 30-day window loses the right entirely.

The stay covers more than just discovery. Filing the motion also stays
other pending hearings or motions between the parties, not only fact
discovery — don't assume unrelated motion practice can continue in the
background while the special motion is pending.

Common questions

Is Iowa's anti-SLAPP law new? Yes — it only took effect for lawsuits
filed on or after July 1, 2025. Iowa had no anti-SLAPP statute of any kind
before this chapter, so there's no older Iowa case law interpreting a
predecessor law.

If I lose my special motion, can I appeal right away? Yes, but only if
you're the party who filed the motion, only if it was denied, and only if
you file the appeal within 30 days of the order.

Does this cover a negative review I posted about a local business? It
can, but check the commercial-speech exemption first: if the business is
primarily engaged in selling or leasing the goods or services your review
discusses, and your review is treated as a communication related to that
sale, the exemption may take the claim back out of the Act's coverage.

Statutes and sources

• Iowa Code § 652.2 — "2. Except as otherwise provided in subsection
  3, this chapter applies to a cause of action asserted in a civil action
  against a person based on any of the following of the person: a.
  Communication in a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or
  other governmental proceeding... c. Exercise of the right of freedom of
  speech or of the press, the right to assemble or petition, or the right
  of association... on a matter of public concern. 3. This chapter does
  not apply to any of the following causes of action asserted: a. Against
  a governmental unit... b. By a governmental unit... to enforce a law to
  protect against an imminent threat to public health or safety; or c.
  Against a person primarily engaged in the business of selling or leasing
  goods or services if the cause of action arises out of a communication
  related to the person's sale or lease of the goods or services." Source:
  https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.3 — "Not later than sixty days after a party is
  served with a petition, crossclaim, counterclaim, third-party claim, or
  other pleading that asserts a cause of action to which this chapter
  applies, or at a later time on a showing of good cause, the party may
  file a special motion for expedited relief to dismiss the cause of
  action or part of the cause of action." Source:
  https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.4(1), (4) — "1... on the filing of a motion under
  section 652.3, all of the following apply: a. All other proceedings
  between the moving party and responding party, including discovery and
  a pending hearing or motion, are stayed... 4. During a stay under
  subsection 1, the court may allow limited discovery if a party shows
  that specific information is necessary to establish whether a party has
  satisfied or failed to satisfy a burden under section 652.7, subsection
  1, and the information is not reasonably available unless discovery is
  allowed." Source: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.5 — "1. The court shall hear a motion under section
  652.3 not later than sixty days after filing of the motion, unless the
  court orders a later hearing for any of the following: a. To allow
  discovery under section 652.4, subsection 4. b. For other good cause."
  Source: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.6 — "In ruling on a motion under section 652.3, the
  court shall consider the pleadings, the motion, any reply or response to
  the motion, and any evidence that could be considered in ruling on a
  motion for summary judgment under rule of civil procedure 1.981."
  Source: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.7(1) — "[T]he court shall dismiss with prejudice a
  cause of action... if all of the following are true: a. The moving party
  establishes... that this chapter applies. b. The responding party fails
  to establish... that this chapter does not apply. c. Any of the
  following are true: (1) The responding party fails to establish a prima
  facie case as to each essential element of the cause of action. (2) The
  moving party establishes that any of the following: (a) The responding
  party failed to state a cause of action... (b) There is no genuine issue
  as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as
  a matter of law." Source: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.8 — "The court shall rule on a motion under section
  652.3 not later than sixty days after a hearing under section 652.5."
  Source: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.9 — "A moving party may appeal as a matter of right
  from an order denying, in whole or in part, a motion under section
  652.3. The appeal must be filed not later than thirty days after entry
  of the order." Source: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Iowa Code § 652.10 — "[T]he court shall award court costs,
  reasonable attorney fees, and reasonable litigation expenses related to
  the motion in the following circumstances: 1. To the moving party if the
  moving party prevails on the motion. 2. To the responding party if the
  responding party prevails on the motion and the court finds that the
  motion was frivolous or filed solely with intent to delay the
  proceeding." Source: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/652.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-05).