Louisiana: Anti-SLAPP Laws

The short answer

Louisiana's anti-SLAPP law, enacted in 1999 and modeled on California's,
lets a defendant sued over an act "in furtherance of the right of petition
or free speech... in connection with a public issue" file a special motion
to strike the claim early, before discovery grinds on. If the plaintiff
can't show a probability of success, the claim is struck and the prevailing
party recovers attorney's fees. Its biggest gap compared to newer statutes:
there's no built-in right to an immediate appeal if the motion is denied.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Louisiana's anti-SLAPP scheme lives in a single article, Code of Civil
Procedure art. 971, enacted in 1999 (Acts 1999, No. 734). The legislature
amended it in 2004 to make the fee-shifting award mandatory rather than
discretionary, and again in 2012 for smaller adjustments; the article's
own history line shows no substantive change since 2012.

What speech or conduct is protected

The article defines protected activity in four categories, closely
tracking California's model: (1) statements made before a legislative,
executive, or judicial proceeding, or any other official proceeding
authorized by law; (2) statements made in connection with an issue under
consideration or review by such a body; (3) statements made in a place
open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public
interest; and (4) any other conduct in furtherance of the right of
petition or free speech connected to a public issue or an issue of public
interest. Louisiana's courts have read this broadly — a 2025 appellate
decision held that photographing a public official in a public place, a
purely non-verbal act, qualified as protected activity under the fourth,
catch-all category.

The special motion to strike

File the special motion within 90 days of being served with the petition —
longer than California's 60-day window — though a court can allow a later
filing "upon terms the court deems proper." The hearing must be noticed
for no more than 30 days after the motion is served, unless the court's
own docket conditions require a later date. Filing the motion
automatically stays all discovery in the case until the court's ruling is
entered, though a judge can still allow specific, limited discovery for
good cause shown. If a plaintiff tries to sidestep the motion by
voluntarily dismissing the case before the delay for filing an answer
runs, the defendant keeps the right to file the special motion anyway.

Burden of proof

Louisiana uses the same two-step test as California. First, the defendant
must show the challenged claim "arises from" an act in furtherance of
petition or free-speech rights on a public issue. Second, if the defendant
clears that bar, the plaintiff must show "a probability of success on the
claim," based on the pleadings and any supporting or opposing affidavits.
Louisiana courts — and the Fifth Circuit, applying Louisiana law — treat
this as comparable to the standard for surviving summary judgment: the
plaintiff must come forward with admissible evidence on each essential
element, and a court that instead weighs conflicting evidence for
credibility, as if holding a mini-trial, is applying the wrong standard.

Attorney's fees

Article 971(B) says "a prevailing party on a special motion to strike
shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs" — mandatory language
that, notably, isn't written to run only in the defendant's favor the way
most other states' anti-SLAPP fee rules are. In practice this has meant a
successful defendant-movant recovers fees from the plaintiff, but the
article's text doesn't build in the asymmetric "frivolous motion" fee-shift
back to the plaintiff that states like California use — there's no
separate mechanism here for a plaintiff to recover fees just because a
losing special motion was frivolous or filed to delay.

Right to appeal

Louisiana's statute gives no special interlocutory appeal right at all —
a real gap compared to most other states' anti-SLAPP laws. If the trial
court GRANTS the special motion, that judgment ends the claim and is a
final, appealable judgment under ordinary Louisiana appellate rules. But
if the trial court DENIES the motion, that ruling is ordinarily
interlocutory; a losing defendant can't appeal it as of right and instead
has to seek a discretionary supervisory writ from the court of appeal, or
ask the trial court to certify the ruling as an immediately appealable
partial judgment.

Exemptions

Article 971 has one exemption: it does not apply to an enforcement action
brought on behalf of the State of Louisiana by the attorney general, a
district attorney, or a city attorney acting as a public prosecutor. There
is no separate commercial-speech or public-interest-lawsuit exemption like
California's.

What trips people up

Denial isn't immediately appealable — plan for a supervisory writ
instead. Unlike states with an express interlocutory appeal right, a
losing Louisiana defendant has to seek a discretionary writ application,
which the court of appeal can simply decline to take up. This is the
single biggest procedural weakness reviewers point to in Louisiana's
otherwise strong statute.

The fee award to a winning defendant is itself a separate, later ruling
that isn't appealable on its own. A Louisiana appellate court has held
that when a trial court denies the special motion but later sets a
separate attorney's-fee amount, that fee ruling is interlocutory and not
independently appealable — the better practice is for the fee award to be
folded into the final judgment at the end of the case.

"Free speech" under art. 971 reaches further than literal speech.
Louisiana courts have applied the statute to non-verbal expressive conduct
— including simply taking photographs of a public figure in public — so
don't assume the motion is limited to written or spoken statements.

Common questions

Does the special motion to strike stop the whole case, or just
discovery? Filing it automatically stays discovery. The underlying claim
stays on the docket until the court rules on the motion.

Can I use this if I'm sued over a critical online review I wrote?
Possibly, under the fourth, catch-all category — Louisiana courts read
"public forum... issue of public interest" broadly, and have applied the
statute to commercial-criticism speech, not just political speech.

If I lose the special motion, do I owe the plaintiff's attorney's
fees? Article 971(B)'s mandatory fee award runs to "a prevailing party,"
but Louisiana's fee-shifting mechanism doesn't include a separate
frivolous-motion penalty the way California's does — there's no
free-standing rule here that automatically punishes a losing defendant's
motion as frivolous.

Statutes and sources

• La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 971(A) — "A cause of action against a
  person arising from any act of that person in furtherance of the
  person's right of petition or free speech under the United States or
  Louisiana Constitution in connection with a public issue shall be
  subject to a special motion to strike, unless the court determines that
  the plaintiff has established a probability of success on the claim."
  Source: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=112314 (accessed
  2026-07-05).
• La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 971(F)(1) — "\"Act in furtherance of a
  person's right of petition or free speech under the United States or
  Louisiana Constitution in connection with a public issue\" includes but
  is not limited to... Any other conduct in furtherance of the exercise of
  the constitutional right of petition or the constitutional right of free
  speech in connection with a public issue or an issue of public
  interest." Source: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=112314
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 971(C)-(D) — "The special motion may be
  filed within ninety days of service of the petition, or in the court's
  discretion, at any later time upon terms the court deems proper... All
  discovery proceedings in the action shall be stayed upon the filing of a
  notice of motion made pursuant to this Article." Source:
  https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=112314 (accessed 2026-07-05).
• La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 971(B) — "In any action subject to
  Paragraph A of this Article, a prevailing party on a special motion to
  strike shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs." Source:
  https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=112314 (accessed 2026-07-05).
• La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 971(E) — "This Article shall not apply to
  any enforcement action brought on behalf of the state of Louisiana by
  the attorney general, district attorney, or city attorney acting as a
  public prosecutor." Source: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=112314
  (accessed 2026-07-05).