Kentucky: Anti-SLAPP Laws

The short answer

Kentucky enacted its version of the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act
(UPEPA) in 2022 — the second state to adopt the model act, after Washington.
If you're sued over a communication in a government proceeding or over
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 whole case, including
discovery, through any appeal. The court then applies a summary-judgment-style
screen, and a prevailing movant recovers fees and costs as a matter of course.
Unlike most UPEPA states, Kentucky lets either side — not just a losing
defendant — take an immediate appeal.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Kentucky's anti-SLAPP law is KRS 454.460 to 454.478, created by 2022 Ky. Acts
ch. 233 (House Bill 222), effective July 14, 2022. No section has been
amended since enactment. The Act itself instructs courts to construe it
broadly to protect free speech, press, assembly/petition, and association
rights (an uncodified provision of the same 2022 Act, not part of the
numbered KRS sections).

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." That broad grant is then
narrowed by a long list of exemptions (below).

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 if the court allows
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 parties — including discovery, other pending motions, and
hearings — through any appeal. 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 test runs in steps. First, the movant must show the Act applies.
Second, the responding party can try to show one of the exemptions takes
the claim back out of the Act's coverage. Third, if the Act still applies,
the court must dismiss with prejudice if 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. This tracks ordinary motion-to-dismiss and
summary-judgment standards rather than a distinct "probability of
prevailing" test.

Attorney's fees

An award of court costs, reasonable attorney's 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 without good cause.

Right to appeal

Either party may appeal as a matter of right from an order granting OR
denying the motion, in whole or in part. That's broader than most other
UPEPA states, many of which give only a losing movant a statutory right to
an immediate appeal from a denial.

Exemptions

The Act doesn't apply to claims against a government unit or official acting
in an official capacity (with a carve-back for government health/safety
enforcement actions), claims against a business arising from its own sale or
lease of goods or services, real-property title and possession disputes,
personal-injury/wrongful-death/survival claims, insurance-code and
insurance-contract claims, common-law fraud, domestic-relations matters
(KRS Chapters 401-407), employment and whistleblower claims under several
named chapters, and Kentucky Consumer Protection Act claims. A carve-back
then restores coverage — even inside the goods/services, fraud, and
consumer-protection exemptions — for claims targeting newsgathering,
artistic, or journalistic work, and for claims targeting consumer opinions,
commentary, or reviews of a business.

What trips people up

The appeal right runs both ways here, unlike many UPEPA states. Several
UPEPA states (Minnesota among them) only let a losing movant immediately
appeal a denial. Kentucky's KRS 454.476 gives either party an immediate
appeal from a grant or a denial — don't assume a losing plaintiff has to
wait for a final judgment to challenge a dismissal.

Retroactivity has already been tested and upheld. In Davenport Extreme
Pools and Spas, Inc. v. Mulflur, No. 2023-CA-0313-MR (Ky. Ct. App. June 14,
2024), the Kentucky Court of Appeals held that UPEPA is a procedural,
remedial change that doesn't alter any common-law right of recovery, so it
applies retroactively to a suit filed before the Act's effective date without
violating Kentucky's jural rights doctrine (a constitutional limit on
legislative interference with existing common-law causes of action). The
court affirmed dismissal of the underlying suit and the fee award to the
prevailing defendants.

A long exemptions list can pull a case back out of coverage — or back in.
A claim that looks like ordinary consumer-protection or employment
litigation may be fully exempt; but if the underlying conduct is
newsgathering, an artistic or journalistic work, or a consumer review, the
Act's carve-back can restore coverage even inside an otherwise-exempt
category.

Common questions

Can I use this motion against a negative online review lawsuit? Often
yes. The Act's carve-back specifically restores coverage for claims
targeting "consumer opinions or commentary, evaluation of consumer
complaints, or reviews or ratings of businesses," even though claims against
a business over its own sale or lease of goods or services are otherwise
exempt.

If I lose my special motion, can I appeal right away? Yes — KRS 454.476
gives either party an immediate appeal from an order granting or denying the
motion, so a responding party whose claim gets dismissed doesn't have to
wait for a final judgment either.

What if the court doesn't rule within the 60-day windows? The statute
sets 60-day deadlines for the hearing and the ruling, but its own text
doesn't create a separate appeal right tied to a missed deadline — the
KRS 454.476 appeal right is tied to an actual order granting or denying the
motion.

Statutes and sources

• KRS 454.462(1)-(2) — "(1) ... KRS 454.460 to 454.478 applies to a
  cause of action asserted against a person based on the person's: (a)
  Communication in a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or
  other governmental proceeding; (b) Communication on an issue under
  consideration or review in [such] a proceeding; or (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.
  (2) ... shall not apply to a cause of action asserted [against government
  actors, goods/services sellers, real-property disputes, personal injury,
  insurance, common-law fraud, domestic relations, employment/whistleblower
  claims, or Consumer Protection Act claims] ... applies ... when the cause
  of action is [newsgathering/artistic work or consumer reviews]." Source:
  https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53201
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• KRS 454.464 — "No later than sixty (60) days after a party is served
  with a complaint... 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 in whole or in part." Source:
  https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53202
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• KRS 454.466(1)-(2), (4) — "[O]n the filing of a motion under KRS
  454.464: (a) All other proceedings between the moving party and
  responding party, including discovery and any pending hearing or motion,
  shall be stayed... A stay... shall remain in effect until entry of an
  order ruling on the motion... and expiration of the time... for the
  moving party to appeal the order. ... [T]he court shall allow limited
  discovery if a party shows that specific information is necessary... and
  the information is not reasonably available unless discovery is allowed."
  Source: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53203
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• KRS 454.468(1) — "The court shall hear a motion under KRS 454.464 no
  later than sixty (60) days after filing of the motion, unless the court
  orders a later hearing: (a) To allow limited discovery... or (b) For good
  cause shown." Source:
  https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53204
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• KRS 454.472(1) — "[T]he court shall dismiss with prejudice a cause of
  action... if: (a) The moving party establishes... that KRS 454.460 to
  454.478 applies; (b) The responding party fails to establish... that KRS
  454.460 to 454.478 does not apply; and (c) Either: 1. The responding party
  fails to establish a prima facie case as to each essential element...; or
  2. The moving party establishes that: a. The responding party failed to
  state a cause of action...; or 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://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53206
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• KRS 454.474 — "The court shall rule on a motion under KRS 454.464 no
  later than sixty (60) days after a hearing under KRS 454.468." Source:
  https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53207
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• KRS 454.476 — "Any party may appeal as a matter of right from an
  order granting or denying, in whole or in part, a motion under KRS
  454.464. The appeal shall be filed in accordance with the Kentucky Rules
  of Civil Procedure." Source:
  https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53208
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• KRS 454.478 — "On a motion under KRS 454.464... the court shall award
  court costs, reasonable attorney's fees, and reasonable litigation
  expenses related to the motion: (1) To the moving party if the moving
  party prevails on the motion; or (2) To the responding party if the
  responding party prevails on the motion and the court finds that the
  motion was brought without good cause." Source:
  https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53209
  (accessed 2026-07-05).