Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on September 3, 2008

Click here to view bill details.

The following quote from a recent post perfectly reflects the standard lunatic fringe wingnut mantra: “how about we write it into law that anyone who shows the slightest leftist leanings should be automatically disqualified.” The kooks always are good for a laugh or two!

 So my county clerk leaves off a candidate's name and gets sued.  A court can find that my primary motivation for suing is to harrass the clerk and I owe triple damages to the clerk!??!

This bill addresses what are known as SLAPP suits – “Strategic lawsuit(s) against public participation.”  I have seen them employed by a developer in my area of the state as a tactic to stifle neighboring property owners’ rights to comment on proposed rezoning and land use.  The suits were dismissed, but at some cost to the defendants.

 

HB 6394 almost certainly is a good idea, and a proposal like it should eventually become law in Michigan.

 

 so, this bill will stop groups like "mayors against illegal guns" from suing to gain an unfair zoning advantage against private companies?

it should also stop groups like greenpeace from suing to influence land use and reparian water rights.

it MIGHT also stop anti-hunting groups from nuisance lawsuits to stop hunting on public lands.

i'm just surprised to see a leftist supporting such right wing legislation.

 

I take it that crazycajun supports this legislation?

 once again you prove that the shed has MANY sharper tools than you.

So, crazycajun supports this legislation, or doesn't?  Why speak in tongues, man?

 that would involve ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION. and that is just not done with you because it just hasn't come FROM you.

take heart, if you apply some THOUGHT to this legislation, you will see that it is attractive to some who wish to be protected from lawsuits. my alternative would be to change the laws concerning ALL lawsuits, it's called TORT REFORM. making it so that if ANYONE for ANY REASON files a frivolous, abusive, or malicious lawsuit, then they, even if they WIN the lawsuit, pay the legal fees of the person they sued and they get NOTHING.

now, lawsuits are ONE way that citizens get the attention of their legislators, so, think about it... do you REALLY want to cut off the path of a citizen to get his "instruction" to his legislator???

i'm sure you've made YOUR decision, and i'm sure that it is the most beneficial to the leftist point of view, but please, apply some THOUGHT before you  make your knee jerk decision.

 democrats and equality.

so, the looney leftist supports this legislation, that is intended to PROTECT those SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS, namely politicians who foist unpopular, illegal, and unconstitutional legislation upon us, and those local politicians who, through manipulation of zoning ordinances, try and restrict businesses and free people in their districts.

so much for the democrats being for THE PEOPLE. so much for WE ARE ALL EQUAL. back go the mantra of

"TO EACH BASED ON HIS WANTS... FROM EACH BASED SOLELY ON HIS ABILITY TO PAY".

Having actually read this bill, it is obvious to me the proposal is clearly aimed at making the use of a SLAPP – strategic lawsuit against public participation – unattractive.  Moreover the bill addresses a narrow set of circumstances (zoning matters) in which the SLAPP has been used.

 

I have seen a wealthy developer in my part of Michigan use the SLAPP tactic to silence neighboring homeowner opposition to a project he was pushing.  It is ugly and nasty business – a form of legal thuggery, pure and simple.

 

The malicious SLAPPs were dismissed, eventually, by the court.  The people whose right to participate were maliciously attacked by this strategy had to defend themselves and their right to participate in setting local government policy at their own very real expense.  

 

One need not be sympathetic to the objections raised by neighboring property owners or others in cases like this to recognize that SLAPP suits do real damage to public participation in resolving matters of community interest and concern.

 

In no way does this legislation propose interference with legitimate lawsuits arising from zoning issues and decisions, including legal challenges to zoning ordinances themselves. 

 

If nothing else, this kind of bill puts all of us on notice that participation in community zoning decisions is not up for sale only to those who can afford lawyers and lawsuits as a routine way of doing business.  That is good public policy transcending all but the most extreme political philosophies.

 

HB 6394 won’t become law in this session of the Michigan Legislature.  But it is a proposal that should be reintroduced and passed in the next session. 

 

 the first S.L.A.P.P. lawsuits were NOT filed by greedy businessmen, but by nefarious politicians who sought to keep the public eyes from shady dealings they had with their own zoning boards and ordinances.

greedy businessmen soon caught on, though, and have filed frivolous and malicious lawsuits aplenty.

as far as this bill transcending all but the most extreme political philosophies, not so, as the leftists out there will never grow enough spine to actually let this pass without stepping on quite a few toes along the way.