Lento Law Group, P.C. v. Hendrickson

Court: Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division

Date Filed: Dec. 26, 2024

Background: Lento Law Group filed a defamation lawsuit against its former client Carly Hendrickson over her post on the Better Business Bureau website criticizing the law firm’s fees. Hendrickson sought to dismiss the lawsuit under New Jersey’s recently enacted anti-SLAPP law, which is based on the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act and allows courts to quickly throw out strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits, that are intended to chill speech about matters of public interest.

A trial court judge granted Hendrickson’s motion and dismissed the lawsuit, finding that her comments concerned a matter of public interest and were protected under the anti-SLAPP law. The judge ordered the law firm to pay Hendrickson’s attorneys’ fees. 

Lento Law Group appealed the decision to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.

Our Position: In a friend-of-the-court brief, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the New Jersey Press Association, and the News/Media Alliance urge the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, to affirm the trial court’s decision and hold that New Jersey’s anti-SLAPP law applies in this matter.

• SLAPPs pose a significant threat to speech, including news reporting, and risk chilling First Amendment expression when not addressed.

• New Jersey’s UPEPA law was enacted to counter the threat from SLAPPs, and the protections for speech codified therein represent an informed policy choice and balancing of interests by the legislature.

From the Brief: “New Jersey is among the states that understood the threat that SLAPPs present and the toll they take on individuals speaking on matters relevant to others in their communities and enacted a law to make it more challenging for plaintiffs to use the judiciary as a means of silencing speech.”