Montana: Anti-SLAPP Laws

The short answer

Montana has an anti-SLAPP law, but it's brand new. Before May 2025,
Montana had no such statute at all — a defendant sued over protected
speech had no special early-dismissal tool. The 2025 legislature enacted
the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA), Mont. Code Ann.
§§ 27-34-101 to -112, which took effect immediately when the Governor
signed it on May 1, 2025. A defendant sued over a communication in a
government proceeding or over speech, press, petition, or association
activity on a matter of public concern can file a special motion for
expedited relief within 60 days of being served. Filing the motion
automatically pauses discovery. The court must dismiss the claim with
prejudice unless the plaintiff can show a real case on every element, or
the defendant separately proves the claim fails as a matter of law. A
prevailing defendant gets mandatory fees, and a defendant who loses the
motion can appeal immediately, as a matter of right.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Montana's anti-SLAPP statute is the Uniform Public Expression Protection
Act (UPEPA), Mont. Code Ann. §§ 27-34-101 to -112, enacted by 2025 House
Bill 292 (Chapter 250, Laws of 2025). The Governor signed it May 1, 2025,
and the act took effect immediately — Montana passed straight from having
no anti-SLAPP protection at all to the modern UPEPA model, without an
older, narrower statute in between. There have been no amendments since
enactment.

What speech or conduct is protected

The statute covers a lawsuit 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
proceeding; or your exercise of the right to free speech, free press,
assembly, petition, or association on a matter of public concern. This is
the standard, broad UPEPA scope used by most states that adopted the
model act.

The special motion procedure

The vehicle is a "special motion for expedited relief to dismiss." You
must file it within 60 days of being served with the complaint, or later
if you can show good cause. Filing it automatically stays discovery and
nearly all other proceedings between you and the plaintiff. That stay
continues through any appeal of the ruling on the motion. A court can
still allow narrow, specifically-justified discovery during the stay if a
party shows the information is genuinely necessary and not otherwise
available. The court must hold a hearing within 60 days of the filing and
rule within 60 days after that hearing. A separate carve-out keeps this
whole chapter from applying to protection-order proceedings under Title
40, chapter 15 (domestic-abuse and related protective orders).

Burden of proof

The court must dismiss the claim with prejudice if three things are all
true: the moving party shows the chapter applies to the claim; the
responding party fails to show one of the chapter's exemptions applies;
and either the responding party fails to establish a prima facie case on
every essential element of its own claim, or the moving party separately
shows the claim fails to state a claim at all, or that there's no real
factual dispute and the moving party wins as a matter of law. The court
decides this using the same kind of record it would use on a
summary-judgment motion — pleadings, the motion papers, and admissible
evidence, not live testimony.

Attorney's fees

A prevailing moving party is entitled to mandatory fees: the statute says
the court "shall award" court costs, attorney fees, and reasonable
litigation expenses related to the motion. The mirror-image protection is
narrower: a responding party who wins the motion only gets fees if the
court separately finds the motion itself was frivolous or filed solely to
delay the case.

Right to appeal

A losing moving party can appeal a denial — in whole or in part — as a
matter of right, without waiting for the rest of the case to finish. The
appeal must be filed within 30 days of the order in a case between
private parties, or within 60 days if the United States, Montana, or a
political subdivision is a party. As of this writing, the Montana Supreme
Court has a pending appeal, Cohodes v. Cohodes, testing this appeal
provision for the first time in a significant way — no decision had
issued as of the date this page was last verified, so there's no
appellate precedent yet interpreting how Montana courts will apply the
burden-of-proof standard on appeal.

Exemptions

Three kinds of claims fall outside the chapter no matter how
speech-related they look: a claim against a government unit or its
employee or agent acting in an official capacity; a claim brought BY a
government unit or employee, in an official capacity, to enforce a law
protecting against an imminent threat to public health or safety; and a
claim against someone primarily in the business of selling or leasing
goods or services, when the claim arises from a communication tied to
that person's own sale or lease. That last, commercial-speech exemption
doesn't reach dramatic, literary, musical, political, journalistic, or
artistic works, so media and creative content stay protected even when
the speaker is in a "selling" business.

What trips people up

This law is brand new — there's almost no Montana case law yet.
Montana had zero anti-SLAPP protection before May 2025, so courts haven't
had much time to interpret how the statute's burden-of-proof language
applies to real disputes. The first major appellate test, Cohodes v.
Cohodes, was still pending before the Montana Supreme Court as of this
page's last verification.

The appeal window differs by opponent. You get only 30 days to
appeal a denial in an ordinary private-party lawsuit, but 60 days if a
government body is a party — don't assume the same deadline applies in
every case.

Family-law protective-order cases are carved out entirely. If the
underlying proceeding is a request for a protection order under Title
40, chapter 15, this chapter's special motion doesn't apply at all, even
if the case otherwise looks speech-related.

Common questions

Does this cover a lawsuit over a comment I made at a public hearing
opposing a local zoning decision? Yes — that's a communication in or
connected to a governmental proceeding, squarely within the statute's
scope.

How long do I have to file the special motion? 60 days after you're
served with the complaint or other pleading, unless the court allows a
later filing for good cause.

If my motion is denied, do I have to wait until the whole case is over
to appeal? No. You can appeal a full or partial denial as a matter of
right, within 30 days (60 if a government entity is a party), and that
appeal keeps the discovery stay in place while it's pending.

Statutes and sources

• Mont. Code Ann. § 27-34-102(1)-(3) — "this chapter applies to a
  claim for relief asserted in a civil action against a person based on
  the person's: (a) communication in a legislative, executive, judicial,
  administrative, or other governmental proceeding... This chapter does
  not apply to a claim for relief asserted: (a) against a governmental
  unit or an employee or agent of a governmental unit acting or
  purporting to act in an official capacity..." Source:
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0340/part_0010/section_0020/0270-0340-0010-0020.html
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mont. Code Ann. § 27-34-103 — "Not later than 60 days after a party
  is served with a complaint... the party may file a special motion for
  expedited relief to dismiss the civil action or part of the civil
  action." Source:
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0340/part_0010/section_0030/0270-0340-0010-0030.html
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mont. Code Ann. § 27-34-104(1)-(2) — "on the filing of a motion
  under 27-34-103: (a) all other proceedings between the moving party and
  responding party, including discovery and a pending hearing or motion,
  are stayed... A stay under subsection (1) remains in effect until entry
  of an order ruling on the motion under 27-34-103 and expiration of the
  time under 27-34-109 for the moving party to appeal the order." Source:
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0340/part_0010/section_0040/0270-0340-0010-0040.html
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mont. Code Ann. § 27-34-107(1) — "the court shall dismiss with
  prejudice a civil action, or part of a civil action, if... either: (i)
  the responding party fails to establish a prima facie case as to each
  essential element of the civil action; or (ii) the moving party
  establishes that... 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://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0340/part_0010/section_0070/0270-0340-0010-0070.html
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mont. Code Ann. § 27-34-109 — "A moving party may appeal as a
  matter of right from an order denying, in whole or in part, a motion
  under 27-34-103. The appeal must be filed not later than 30 days after
  entry of the order in a civil action between private parties, and not
  later than 60 days after entry of the order in a civil action to which
  the United States or the state of Montana or a political subdivision is
  a party." Source:
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0340/part_0010/section_0090/0270-0340-0010-0090.html
  (accessed 2026-07-05).
• Mont. Code Ann. § 27-34-110 — "the court shall award court costs,
  reasonable attorney 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 frivolous or
  filed solely with intent to delay the proceeding." Source:
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0340/part_0010/section_0100/0270-0340-0010-0100.html
  (accessed 2026-07-05).