Anti-SLAPP Laws in Pennsylvania

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Act 72 of 2024 added a new stand-alone cause of action (§ 8320.1) and a new subchapter of Title 42 (§§ 8340.11-8340.18) called the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act. It replaced Pennsylvania's old, much narrower anti-SLAPP law, but only for its own broader scope: the prior law, which protects only speech about environmental law or regulation (27 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 7707, 8301-8305), was expressly left in place and unaffected.

What speech or conduct is protected

"Protected public expression" covers a communication in, or on an issue under consideration or review in, a legislative, executive, judicial, or administrative proceeding, and separately covers the exercise, on a matter of public concern, of the rights of free speech, free press, assembly, petition, or association guaranteed by the First Amendment or by Article I, §§ 7 or 20 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The special motion, and why it isn't fully running yet

Section 8340.16 creates a special motion for dismissal or judgment based on protected public expression immunity, due within 60 days of being served with the pleading, with all other proceedings (including discovery) automatically stayed once it's filed. But the act that created this motion split its own effective date: the immunity, definitions, fee, and appeal provisions took effect immediately in 2024, while the addition of § 8340.16 itself "shall take effect on the effective date specified" in a notice that only issues after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court promulgates a procedural rule with substantially the same content (or otherwise confirms the statute isn't suspended under its own rulemaking power). As of August 16, 2026, the current official Chapter 83 text still carried the Act 72 applicability condition rather than an effective-date notice. The only official rulemaking publication located was the February 2026 proposal for Pa.R.Civ.P. 1034.1, not an adopted rule. Section 8340.16(c) does say that filing this special motion "does not preclude a party from asserting protected public expression immunity through other pleadings and motions under the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure", meaning the underlying immunity can be raised right now through an ordinary preliminary objection (demurrer) or motion for summary judgment, just not through the dedicated fast-track vehicle the statute describes.

Burden of proof

A person is immune from liability for a claim based on protected public expression if the party bringing the claim fails to state a cause of action, fails to establish a prima facie case on each essential element of that cause of action, or cannot show a genuine issue of material fact that would defeat judgment as a matter of law for the defendant. This tracks Pennsylvania's existing demurrer and summary-judgment standards rather than creating a separate, SLAPP-specific evidentiary test.

Attorney's fees

A party who establishes immunity is entitled to a mandatory award of court costs, attorney's fees, and litigation expenses, assessed jointly and severally against every party who asserted the claim, including when the plaintiff voluntarily discontinues the case after immunity is asserted. If a court instead finds that an immunity assertion was frivolous or made solely to delay the case, the fee-shifting runs the other way, to the party who opposed it. A separate cause of action at § 8320.1 lets a party who would have won immunity, but never actually got a ruling on it (for example because the case settled or was dismissed on other grounds first), sue afterward to recover fees and, on proof the original suit was pursued solely to harass or punish, punitive damages.

Right to appeal

An order granting, denying, or otherwise determining immunity is immediately appealable under Pennsylvania's general interlocutory-appeal statute, 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 702. This appeal right is already usable today, independent of whether the § 8340.16 special motion itself has been activated, because immunity determinations can currently arise from ordinary preliminary objections or summary judgment motions.

Exemptions

Section 8340.14(b) lists ten categories the law doesn't reach: claims by or against a government unit; claims against someone primarily in the business of selling or leasing goods or services over statements tied to that sale or lease; most claims for bodily injury or death (unless they're really defamation, invasion of privacy, or emotional-distress claims, or arise solely from a communication on a matter of public concern); claims under Pennsylvania's protection-from-abuse or sexual-violence-victim statutes; insurance-contract claims; trade-secret or corporate-opportunity misappropriation claims; enforcement of a non-disparagement agreement or non-compete covenant; and disputes over the internal governance or manager liability of a business entity.

What trips people up

The law is genuinely split into "already effective" and "not yet effective" pieces, and getting this wrong matters. Immunity, mandatory fees, and the right to an immediate appeal are live right now. The dedicated 60-day special motion and its automatic case-wide stay are not, pending Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulemaking, describing the whole UPEPA as fully operational, the way some secondary sources do, overstates what a defendant can currently invoke by name.

A defendant can still get the same substantive protection today, just through a different door. Because § 8340.16(c) preserves the right to raise protected-public-expression immunity through an ordinary demurrer or summary judgment motion, the absence of the special motion doesn't mean the immunity itself is unavailable, only that the statute's own express 60-day deadline and automatic stay aren't triggered by using that route.

Watch for a real, live case testing exactly this seam. A Pennsylvania Superior Court panel considered an untimely UPEPA special motion in a January 2026 defamation case and affirmed its denial on timeliness grounds without needing to resolve the open question of whether the special motion mechanism was even in force at the time it was filed, a sign that courts are actively grappling with, but haven't yet definitively settled, this effective-date question.

Common questions

Can I file the special UPEPA motion right now? You can try, but courts are still working through whether § 8340.16's own mechanism is operative before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopts a matching procedural rule. Raising the same immunity through an ordinary preliminary objection or summary judgment motion is the more clearly available path today.

If I win on immunity, do I automatically get my fees? Yes, the fee award to a party who establishes immunity is mandatory, not discretionary, and runs jointly and severally against everyone who asserted the claim.

What if the case is dismissed before anyone rules on immunity? Section 8320.1 provides a separate lawsuit a party can bring afterward to recover fees (and, in narrow circumstances, punitive damages) if they would have won immunity but the court never actually decided the question.

Statutes and sources

• 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8340.16 — "(a) Authorization.--A party may file a special motion for dismissal of or judgment on a cause of action, or part of a cause of action, based on a party's protected public expression immunity. (b) Time.--A motion under subsection (a) must be made as follows: (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no later than 60 days after being served with a pleading asserting a cause of action based on protected public expression... (c) Effect.--A motion under subsection (a) does not preclude a party from asserting protected public expression immunity through other pleadings and motions under the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. ... (e) Stay.--If a motion under subsection (a) is made... all other proceedings in the action are stayed. This paragraph includes discovery and the moving party's obligation to file a responsive pleading." Source: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=HTM&ttl=42&div=0&chpt=83&sctn=40&subsctn=16 (accessed 2026-07-05).
• 2024 Pa. Laws Act 72 (H.B. 1466), Sections 3, 7 — "Section 7. This act shall take effect as follows: (1) The addition of 42 Pa.C.S. § 8340.16 shall take effect on the effective date specified in the notice under section 3(4). (2) The remainder of this act shall take effect immediately. ... Section 3. ... (1) The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts has a duty under paragraph (3) if any of the following occur: ... (iii) Promulgation by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania of procedural rules providing substantially the same content as the provisions of 42 Pa.C.S. § 8340.16." Source: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/unconsolidated/law-information/view-statute?txtType=PDF&SessYr=2024&ActNum=0072.&SessInd=0 (accessed 2026-07-05).
• 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8340.15 — "A person is immune from civil liability for a cause of action based on protected public expression if any of the following paragraphs apply: (1) The party asserting the cause of action based on protected public expression fails to: (i) establish a prima facie case as to each essential element of the cause of action; or (ii) state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted. (2) There is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and the person against whom the cause of action based on protected public expression has been asserted is entitled to judgment as a matter of law in whole or in part." Source: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/unconsolidated/law-information/view-statute?txtType=PDF&SessYr=2024&ActNum=0072.&SessInd=0 (accessed 2026-07-05).
• 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8340.18 — "(a) Party asserting immunity.--If a cause of action based on protected public expression is commenced against a party, all of the following apply: (1) If the party is immune under section 8340.15..., the court shall award the party attorney fees, court costs and expenses of litigation jointly and severally against each adverse party that asserted the cause of action... (b) Party opposing immunity.--If the court determines that a party's assertion of protected public expression immunity is frivolous or filed solely with intent to delay the proceeding, the court shall award the opposing party attorney fees, court costs and expenses of litigation, incurred in opposing the assertion of protected public expression immunity." Source: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/unconsolidated/law-information/view-statute?txtType=PDF&SessYr=2024&ActNum=0072.&SessInd=0 (accessed 2026-07-05).