North Dakota

This guide was authored by Zivile Raskauskaite, Skye Lucas, and Sara George, working with Professor Jared Schroeder at the Missouri School of Journalism. Grant support for this project was provided by the Society to Protect Journalists and the Reynolds Journalism Institute. 

Anti-SLAPP Protection: North Dakota does not have an anti-SLAPP statute.  

Helpful cases: While North Dakota courts have never referred to SLAPPs in their decisions, these cases offer insight into how judges in the state have disposed of defamation lawsuits against publishers.

• Riemers v. Mahar, 748 N.W.2d 714 (N.D. 2008): Ronald Riemers, a local politician who wrote and supported proposed ballot initiatives focusing around child custody and child support laws, sued Rick Mahar for alleged defamation based on articles Mahar wrote and published in the Walsh County Recordcriticizing the ballot initiatives. The district court granted summary judgment for Mahar, and the Supreme Court of North Dakota affirmed.  First, the North Dakota Supreme Court rejected Riemers’ contention that the defendant’s summary judgment motion was procedurally defective.  The court also found that Riemers was “at least a limited purpose public figure” as a matter of law, meaning he had to present evidence of actual malice. Because Riemers failed to do so, the court affirmed the dismissal of the suit. 

• Riemers v. Grand Forks Herald, 688 N.W.2d 167 (N.D. 2004): The same local politician, Ronald Riemers, sued a newspaper, its staff writer, and its parent company, alleging defamation based on defendants’ statement that a court found that the plaintiff had beaten his wife and had given false information about his finances.  The trial court granted the newspaper and reporter’s motion for summary judgment, and the Supreme Court of North Dakota affirmed.  It found that the challenged statement was subject to a qualified privilege as a report of a judicial proceeding, and plaintiff had failed to “raise a genuine issue of material fact” whether the statement was a “fair and true” report of a “judicial proceeding” and was made without malice, with reasonable belief in its truthfulness, and was based on a subject matter relevant to the common interest.  Id. at 171.

Legislative Attempts: There have been no recent attempts at passing an anti-SLAPP law in North Dakota. 

Additional: Although there is no anti-SLAPP law in North Dakota, other statutes may be used by those facing frivolous suits. For example, under North Dakota Century Code 28-26-01, if a civil claim is found to be frivolous, the court shall award the prevailing party with reasonable attorney’s fees, “providing the prevailing party has in responsive pleading alleged the frivolous nature of the claim.”