Missouri: Anti-SLAPP Laws

The short answer

Missouri's current anti-SLAPP law is one of the narrowest in the country: it
only reaches a lawsuit for money damages over speech connected to a public
hearing or meeting before a government body, and it doesn't shift any burden
to the plaintiff. That's about to change. The legislature has passed a much
broader replacement — Missouri's version of the Uniform Public Expression
Protection Act — and it's sitting on the Governor's desk as of this writing.
Until it's signed and takes effect, though, § 537.528 is still the law that
governs any case filed today.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.528 was enacted in 2004 and renumbered and amended in
2012; that 2012 text is still the current, in-force version. A bill (S.B.
1067, with identical language also carried in S.B.s 835 and 1111) has been
truly agreed to and finally passed by both chambers and delivered to
Governor Mike Kehoe, who has until July 15, 2026 to act on it. As of this
writing it has not yet been signed. If signed, it would repeal § 537.528
outright and replace it with a full Uniform Public Expression Protection Act
scheme, effective only for cases filed on or after August 28, 2026.

What speech or conduct is protected

Current law covers only "conduct or speech undertaken or made in connection
with a public hearing or public meeting, in a quasi-judicial proceeding
before a tribunal or decision-making body" of the state or one of its
political subdivisions — the statute's own definition names things like
state, county, city, town, or village councils, planning commissions, and
review boards. There's no broader "public issue" catch-all the way most
newer state statutes have. Missouri's courts have added their own limit on
top: the underlying lawsuit must be seeking money damages, not a declaratory
judgment or an injunction, for the special motion to be available at all.

The special motion

You can bring a special motion to dismiss, a motion for judgment on the
pleadings, or a motion for summary judgment, and the court must consider it
"on a priority or expedited basis." The statute doesn't name a specific
number of days from service within which you must file — an outlier among
the states surveyed so far — though the fee-shifting rule effectively
rewards filing within 90 days of your answer. Once filed, discovery stops
completely, and stays stopped not just until the trial court rules but all
the way through the exhaustion of any appeal of that ruling — one of the
longest discovery stays among the states surveyed.

Burden of proof

This is Missouri's sharpest departure from most other states' laws: the
statute's own text creates no special evidentiary test at all. It doesn't
require you to make any threshold showing, and it never shifts a burden to
the plaintiff to prove anything to survive the motion. It's purely a
procedural accelerator layered on top of Missouri's ordinary motion-to-
dismiss, judgment-on-the-pleadings, or summary-judgment standards. Missouri's
courts have read in one substantive gloss anyway: they look at whether the
plaintiff's suit was retaliatory in nature before granting relief.

Attorney's fees

Winning the motion only gets you a mandatory fee award if you filed it
within 90 days of your own answer — miss that window and the fee-shifting
provision doesn't reach you even if the motion otherwise succeeds. The
mirror-image rule protects plaintiffs: if the court finds your motion was
frivolous or filed solely to cause unnecessary delay, the plaintiff recovers
its own costs and fees instead.

Right to appeal

Either party can bring an expedited appeal from the trial court's order on
the motion, or from the court's failure to rule on an expedited basis.
Missouri's appellate courts have read this narrowly, though: it doesn't
create a right to an interlocutory appeal from a motion that's DENIED before
final judgment — the expedited-appeal right kicks in once there's an
appealable order, it doesn't let a losing movant jump the case ahead on its
own.

Exemptions

The statute names no exemptions or carve-outs of its own. Its narrow,
built-in scope — limited to speech connected with a public hearing or
meeting — already keeps most other kinds of speech-related claims outside
the law entirely, rather than covering them and then exempting a category
back out. Separately, § 537.528.5 preserves every other remedy, defense, or
cause of action a party otherwise has under any other law, including
ordinary defamation claims.

What trips people up

This law is on the way out. Anyone researching Missouri's anti-SLAPP
protections right now needs to know the current, narrow § 537.528 could be
replaced within weeks by a much broader Uniform Public Expression Protection
Act, already passed by the legislature and awaiting the Governor's signature
as of this writing. If it's signed, it only reaches cases filed on or after
August 28, 2026 — anything filed before that date is still decided under
today's narrow rule, so check the filing date of your case, not just today's
date, before assuming which version applies.

"Public hearing or meeting" is a real ceiling, not a floor. Unlike
California- or UPEPA-style statutes that reach any speech on a public issue,
Missouri's current law only protects speech tied to an actual government
hearing or meeting. Commentary in the media, on social media, or in a
private dispute — even about a genuinely public issue — generally falls
outside this statute if it wasn't made in or in connection with one of those
proceedings.

Winning the motion doesn't guarantee fees if you waited too long to file
it. The 90-day-from-your-answer window in § 537.528.2 is tied specifically
to the fee award, not to the availability of the motion itself — so a
late-filed motion can still get the case dismissed while leaving you without
the fee-shifting most other states' anti-SLAPP laws would guarantee.

Common questions

Does Missouri's anti-SLAPP law cover something I posted online criticizing
a local business?
Only if it was made in connection with an actual public hearing or meeting
before a government decision-making body. A general online review or social
media post, without that government-proceeding connection, isn't covered by
§ 537.528 as written today.

If I lose my special motion, can I appeal right away?
Not under current law. Missouri courts have held that a denial isn't
immediately appealable — the expedited-appeal right in the statute applies
once there's an appealable order, not to let you jump ahead from a losing
motion before final judgment.

Is it worth waiting for the new law before filing my motion?
No — if your case is already filed, it's governed by whichever version of
the law is in effect on your filing date. The pending replacement, even if
signed, would only apply to cases filed on or after August 28, 2026.

What must I show to win a special motion under the current statute?
The statute itself doesn't specify a standard — it just accelerates whatever
motion you file. In practice, courts have looked at whether the suit against
you was retaliatory, on top of showing your conduct falls within the
statute's public-hearing-or-meeting scope.

Statutes and sources

• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.528.1 — "Any action against a person for conduct
  or speech undertaken or made in connection with a public hearing or public
  meeting, in a quasi-judicial proceeding before a tribunal or
  decision-making body of the state or any political subdivision of the
  state is subject to a special motion to dismiss, motion for judgment on
  the pleadings, or motion for summary judgment that shall be considered by
  the court on a priority or expedited basis to ensure the early
  consideration of the issues raised by the motion and to prevent the
  unnecessary expense of litigation. Upon the filing of any special motion
  described in this subsection, all discovery shall be suspended pending a
  decision on the motion by the court and the exhaustion of all appeals
  regarding the special motion." Source:
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.528
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.528.2 — "If the rights afforded by this section
  are raised as an affirmative defense and if a court grants a motion to
  dismiss, a motion for judgment on the pleadings or a motion for summary
  judgment filed within ninety days of the filing of the moving party's
  answer, the court shall award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred
  by the moving party in defending the action. If the court finds that a
  special motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment is frivolous or
  solely intended to cause unnecessary delay, the court shall award costs
  and reasonable attorney fees to the party prevailing on the motion."
  Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.528
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.528.3 — "Any party shall have the right to an
  expedited appeal from a trial court order on the special motions described
  in subsection 2 of this section or from a trial court's failure to rule
  on the motion on an expedited basis." Source:
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.528
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.528.4 — "As used in this section, a \"public
  meeting in a quasi-judicial proceeding\" means and includes any meeting
  established and held by a state or local governmental entity, including
  without limitations meetings or presentations before state, county, city,
  town or village councils, planning commissions, review boards or
  commissions." Source:
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.528
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.528.5 — "Nothing in this section limits or
  prohibits the exercise of a right or remedy of a party granted pursuant to
  another constitutional, statutory, common law or administrative provision,
  including civil actions for defamation." Source:
  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.528
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Pending: MO S.B. 1067 (2026) — delivered to the Governor; would repeal
  § 537.528 and replace it with a Uniform Public Expression Protection Act
  scheme effective for cases filed on or after August 28, 2026. Source:
  https://www.senate.mo.gov/BillTracking/Bills/Billinformation?year=2026&billid=315
  (accessed 2026-07-05).