Anti-SLAPP Laws in North Carolina

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

There is none. A bill to adopt the Uniform Law Commission's Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, H.B. 144 of the 2023-2024 Session, was filed in February 2023, reported favorably by the House Judiciary 1 Committee, and referred to the Rules Committee on March 8, 2023, where it stayed without a floor vote for the rest of the two-year session. It formally died when the 2023-2024 biennium ended in December 2024. No successor anti-SLAPP or public-expression-protection bill has been filed in the 2025-2026 session. An earlier, similar bill (the Citizen Participation Act, H.B. 746) died the same way back in 2011. North Carolina is currently one of roughly a dozen states without any anti-SLAPP statute.

What speech or conduct would have been protected

The 2023 bill would have covered a defendant's communication in a government proceeding, a communication on an issue under consideration or review by a government body, or the exercise of free speech, press, assembly, petition, or association rights on a matter of public concern, modeled closely on the national Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (proposed G.S. § 1-672). None of that is in force. Absent a statute, North Carolina courts have recognized only a narrow constitutional Petition Clause immunity for statements genuinely aimed at influencing government action, evaluated case by case rather than under any fixed statutory test.

The special motion that doesn't exist

The 2023 bill would have let a defendant file a "special motion for expedited relief" within 60 days of being served (proposed G.S. § 1-673), automatically staying discovery and other proceedings. None of that exists today. A defendant sued over protected speech in North Carolina has to use an ordinary Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, or a Rule 56 motion for summary judgment after discovery, with no special expedited timeline and no automatic stay.

Burden of proof

Because there is no anti-SLAPP statute, there is no special two-step burden-shifting test. A defendant's motion to dismiss is judged under North Carolina's ordinary pleading-sufficiency standard, and a motion for summary judgment is judged under the ordinary genuine-issue-of-material-fact standard, the same rules that apply in any other civil case, with no speech-specific burden on the plaintiff to show a probability of prevailing.

Attorney's fees

There is no SLAPP-specific fee-shifting rule. A defendant who wins an ordinary motion to dismiss or for summary judgment does not automatically recover attorney's fees for having to defend against a meritless speech-based claim. North Carolina's general sanctions tools for frivolous filings, such as Rule 11, remain available on the same terms as in any other lawsuit, but they are not tailored to SLAPP suits and require their own separate showing.

Right to appeal

There is no special interlocutory appeal right tied to a ruling on a SLAPP-type motion. Ordinary North Carolina rules on which orders are immediately appealable, and which must wait for a final judgment, apply instead.

Exemptions

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

What trips people up

"North Carolina doesn't have one" is easy to get wrong by assuming a bill became law. The 2023 UPEPA bill got real momentum, a favorable committee report, and news coverage at the time treated it as a live possibility. It never passed. Don't rely on older news articles or bill-tracking pages showing "Reptd Fav" as evidence the law exists; check the bill's final status.

Petitioning immunity is not the same thing as an anti-SLAPP statute. North Carolina case law recognizes a First Amendment Petition Clause defense in some circumstances, but it's a fact-specific common-law defense litigated the ordinary way, not a fast, cost-shifting special motion.

Common questions

If I'm sued over something I posted online criticizing a local business, can I get the case thrown out quickly? Not through any SLAPP-specific procedure, North Carolina doesn't have one. You'd need to win an ordinary motion to dismiss or for summary judgment on the merits, which takes longer and doesn't come with an automatic discovery stay or fee award.

Is a North Carolina anti-SLAPP law likely to pass soon? There's no way to know. The 2023 bill had committee support but was blocked from a floor vote for reasons unrelated to its merits, and no replacement bill has been introduced as of the date this page was last verified.

Can I use another state's anti-SLAPP law if I'm sued in North Carolina? Generally no, a state's anti-SLAPP statute is that state's own procedural/substantive tool and doesn't travel with you into a North Carolina court just because you're being sued over online speech.

Statutes and sources

• N.C. H.B. 144 (2023-2024 Session), proposed G.S. § 1-672 (never enacted) — "Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this section, this Article applies to a cause of action asserted in a civil action against a person based on any of the following: (1) A communication in a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or other governmental proceeding. (2) A communication on an issue under consideration or review in a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or other governmental proceeding. (3) An exercise of the right of freedom of speech or of the press, the right to assemble or petition, or the right of association, guaranteed by the United States Constitution or North Carolina Constitution, on a matter of public concern." Source: https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2023/Bills/House/PDF/H144v1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-05). This bill died without a floor vote and was never enacted.
• N.C. H.B. 144 (2023-2024 Session), proposed G.S. § 1-673 (never enacted) — "Not later than 60 days after a party is served with a complaint, crossclaim, counterclaim, third-party claim, or other pleading that asserts a cause of action to which this Article applies, 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 or part of the cause of action." Source: https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2023/Bills/House/PDF/H144v1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-05). This bill died without a floor vote and was never enacted.