West Virginia

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: West Virginia does not have an anti-SLAPP law.

Helpful cases: West Virginia is one of several states with no anti-SLAPP law.  However, the state’s highest court has held that speech and petition activity in connection with an issue of public interest is entitled to heightened protection. Harris v. Adkins, 432 S.E.2d 549 (W.Va. 1993). Specifically, the exercise of the constitutional right to petition the government cannot give rise to liability unless a plaintiff can show that the defendant acted with knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, the falsity of the statements made. Id.

Below are a few additional helpful cases that provide precedent for SLAPP protections. 

• Marshall Cnty. Coal Co. v. Oliver, 2018 WL 11243736 (W. Va. Cir. Ct. Mar. 15, 2018): The satirical television program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, aired a segment in June 2017 that discussed CEO of Murray Energy Corporation Robert Murray and his problems with federal safety regulators as well as his attempts to use defamation suits to silence his critics. Murray sued Oliver, HBO, and other defendants for defamation, among other claims. The case was filed in state court, and a federal court rejected defendants’ removal to federal court. Oliver and HBO filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, which was granted by the state trial court because the challenged statements were protected by the fair report privilege, were substantially true, were nonactionable satire and rhetorical hyperbole, and the plaintiffs were public figures that failed to show actual malice.

• Giles v. Kanawha Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 2018 WL 300605 (W. Va. Jan. 5, 2018): Former high school principal Clinton Giles sued the Kanawha County Board of Education for defamation after school board member Peter Thaw denounced Giles’ conduct at a board meeting after Giles was criminally charged with failing to timely report an alleged sexual assault that occurred on the school’s premises. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, which the trial court granted. The Supreme Court of West Virginia upheld the lower court’s decision, concluding that the board member’s statements were protected and nonactionable under the First Amendment because they reflected his feelings and opinions and “did not include provably false assertions of fact.”  Id. at *4.

Legislative activity: West Virginia legislators considered SB 469 in 2024, but it failed. The bill was a version of the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act that has passed in several other states.