Utah's anti-SLAPP law (SB 112, Citizen Participation in Government Act) was enacted in the 2001 General Session, on a second try by Rep. Becky Lockhart (Rep.-Provo). It was signed into law by the governor on March 15 and became effective April 30.
Legislative History: An anti-SLAPP bill introduced in the 2000 Legislature -- House Bill 296, sponsored by Rep. Lockhart -- died on the Senate floor for lack of action after emerging from committees. The bill had passed the House unanimously. A similar bill had been introduced in the 1999 session of the legislature by Senator R. Mont Evans (Senate Bill 99). A substitute bill Senate Bill 27 died in committee.
Defendants formed an entity to organize opposition to a development by the Anderson Company, which then filed suit for intentional interference with economic relations. Defendants filed a counterclaim under the state's anti-SLAPP Act, and the trial court granted Anderson's motion for summary judgment on the anti-SLAPP counterclaim, holding that the statute did not apply to Anderson Company's suit, which commenced three years before enactment of the statute. The Supreme Court reverses. Held: defendants pled a cognizable claim under the anti-SLAPP statute when they alleged that the Anderson Company continued, after enactment of the SLAPP Act, to pursue its lawsuit against them in order to punish them for their opposition to its zoning application.