Editorial 
This page was last updated on January 06, 2009 .

SLAPP v. SLAPOD
by: Larry Walker, 6/2/06

• SLAPP: Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation
  
  While they may contain a monetary motive, the general purpose of SLAPPs is to limit or "chill" participation in the governmental process by the non-governmental public. Such lawsuits generally use allegations of libel and defamation as a vehicle into the court system.
  
  More on SLAPPs.
   

• SLAPOD: Strategic Litigation Against Performance of Official Duties
  
  I believe that the recent Supreme Court ruling in Garcetti v. Ceballos will spawn a new class of lawsuits that I call SLAPODs. These lawsuits will be patterned after SLAPPS with the exception that they will target public employees instead of the non-governmental public, and their primary purpose will be to limit or "chill" public employees from performing their official duties under threat of being sued personally and individually for alleged libel and defamation even when acting within the scope of employment.
   

  • SLAPOD2: Strategic Litigation Against Performance of Official Duties - RICO
     
    SLAPOD2s would be a variation of and similar to SLAPODs in all respects except that they would use allegations of conspiracy and racketeering under the RICO statute, either alone or in combination with allegations of libel and defamation, as the vehicle into the court system
     
    An example of a case that I believe either is, or will morph into a SLAPOD2 is the Wyoming Grazing Dispute (scroll down about half way at the linked page).

As a layman, I may be totally wrong and off-base. If I am not, then I believe that the triad of SLAPP/SLAPOD/SLAPOD2 has the potential to just about totally paralyze government as we know it.

If this scares the hell out of you, then I believe that it should - it does me!

Larry Walker