Kevin Padrick and Obsidian Finance Group, LLC sued blogger Crystal Cox, claiming that Cox libeled them through a series of postings on her Internet blog. The trial court jury ruled in favor of Padrick and Obsidian and returned a $2.5 million verdict in their favor. Cox moved for a new trial, which was denied. The decision in the trial court below turned on whether she was a journalist and whether her speech involved a matter of public concern – both of which affects the standard of liability under Oregon law.

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Executive Director Lucy Dalglish testified before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee of the Maryland General Assembly, in support of SB 221. which clarifies and modernizes Maryland's anti-SLAPP law. SB 221 offers several important improvements to the current law, including the removal of the requirement that defendants show that the plaintiff filed the lawsuit in “bad faith” – that is, with the intent to use it to stifle constitutionally protected expression – in order to have the lawsuit dismissed as a SLAPP.

Urging the U.S.Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold the constitutionality of the Washington anti-SLAPP statute, which provides broad protection for action involving public participation and petition.

Urging the Virgin Islands Supreme Court to affirm a ruling that a retired judge failed to prove actual malice in his defamation claims against the local newspaper and one of its reporters for statements about the performance of his official duties, and asking the Court to extend the mandate of independent appellate de novo review beyond the issue of actual malice to include all constitutional issues in a defamation cause of action.