Anti-SLAPP Laws in Mississippi

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

There is none currently in force, and none pending. In 2022, a state senator introduced S.B. 2628, which would have enacted a "Public Speech Protection Act" to let defendants strike meritless lawsuits filed over protected speech, petition, or association activity. The bill died in the Senate Judiciary Committee shortly after it was introduced and has not been reintroduced in any session since.

What speech or conduct would be protected

Not applicable — no statutory scope exists. Mississippi courts have not developed a separate constitutional or common-law petitioning-immunity doctrine to fill the gap either. A defendant sued over speech here relies on ordinary Mississippi defamation-law defenses: truth, non-defamatory opinion, and, for a public-official or public-figure plaintiff, the requirement that the plaintiff prove actual malice.

The special motion that doesn't exist

There is no special motion to strike or dismiss a claim based on protected speech. A defendant must use an ordinary motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment under the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, on the ordinary civil-procedure timeline, with no automatic stay of discovery while the motion is pending.

Burden of proof

Because there is no anti-SLAPP statute, there is no special burden- shifting test either. Ordinary pleading-sufficiency and summary-judgment standards apply. The closest general tool, the Litigation Accountability Act, instead asks whether the other side's action, claim, or defense was brought "without substantial justification" — a term the Act defines as frivolous, groundless in fact or in law, or vexatious — which is a different and generally harder showing than the "probability of prevailing" or "prima facie case" tests used in states with an actual anti-SLAPP statute.

Attorney's fees

There's no SLAPP-specific fee-shifting rule, but two general tools exist in any Mississippi civil case. M.R.C.P. 11(b) lets a court order a party or attorney who files a frivolous pleading, motion, or other paper, or one intended to harass or delay, to pay the other side's reasonable expenses and attorney's fees. Separately, the Litigation Accountability Act, Miss. Code § 11-55-5, requires a court to award fees and costs against a party or attorney who brought an action or claim without substantial justification, or for delay or harassment, with § 11-55-7 supplying the statutory-factor analysis. Neither tool is limited to speech-based cases, and each requires its own motion and showing; neither is a substitute for an anti-SLAPP special motion.

Right to appeal

There is no special interlocutory appeal right tied to a SLAPP-type motion. Ordinary Mississippi rules on final judgments and permissive interlocutory appeals apply to any ruling on a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment, the same as in any other civil case.

Exemptions

Not applicable — there is no statute to carve exemptions from.

What trips people up

A dead 2022 bill isn't a law. S.B. 2628 got real attention as a proposed "Public Speech Protection Act," but it never made it out of committee and has not resurfaced since — don't assume Mississippi has adopted, or is about to adopt, an anti-SLAPP statute just because a bill was introduced once.

The Litigation Accountability Act and Rule 11(b) are not anti-SLAPP substitutes. Both let a court sanction a genuinely frivolous or harassing filing, but neither is triggered automatically, neither stays discovery, and neither is tailored to speech, petition, or association claims specifically — you have to separately show the filing meets the general frivolousness or bad-faith standard, which is a different (and often harder) showing than a dedicated anti-SLAPP statute would require.

There's no discovery stay while you fight the underlying claim. Without a special motion, ordinary discovery proceeds on the normal timeline even if you believe the lawsuit targets your protected speech — there's no statutory mechanism to pause the case while a threshold motion is decided.

Common questions

If I'm sued over a negative online review of a local business, can I get the case thrown out quickly? Not through any SLAPP-specific procedure — Mississippi doesn't have one. You'd need to win an ordinary motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment on the merits, which takes longer and comes with no automatic discovery stay or guaranteed fee award.

Can I recover my attorney's fees if I win? Only if you separately show the lawsuit was frivolous, groundless, vexatious, or brought to harass or delay, under Rule 11(b) or the Litigation Accountability Act — fees aren't awarded automatically just because you prevailed.

Is Mississippi likely to get an anti-SLAPP law soon? There's no way to know for certain. The only attempt so far, 2022's S.B. 2628, died in committee, and no replacement bill has been introduced in any session since.

Statutes and sources

• Miss. R. Civ. P. 11(b) — "If the court decides that a party's pleading, motion, or other paper is frivolous or intended to harass or delay, the court may order the party, the party's attorney, or both to pay to the opposing party or parties reasonable expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred by them and their attorneys." Source: https://courts.ms.gov/archive/rulesofcivilprocedure/Revised%20Mississippi%20Rules%20of%20Civil%20Procedure%20-%208.31.16.pdf (accessed 2026-08-23).
• Miss. Code §§ 11-55-3 and 11-55-5 — define the Act's substantial- justification standard and mandatory sanctions trigger. Official block quotation: https://courts.ms.gov/images/Opinions/CO167479.pdf (accessed 2026-08-23).
• Miss. Code § 11-55-7 — governs the statutory-factor analysis for the award. Official application: https://courts.ms.gov/images/Opinions/Conv6045.pdf (accessed 2026-08-23).