AWDTSG Lawsuits and Anti-SLAPP: What Victims Should Know
In March 2025, a software engineer in Southern California hired a defamation attorney after discovering a lengthy post about him in the "Are We Dating the Same Guy - Los Angeles" Facebook group. The post accused him of being emotionally abusive, secretly recording intimate encounters, and lying about his marital status. Every claim was false, and he had text messages and other evidence to prove it. His attorney filed a defamation lawsuit against the woman who wrote the post. Five months and $27,000 in legal fees later, the case was dismissed under California's anti-SLAPP statute. The judge ruled that the Facebook post constituted speech on a matter of public interest, that the group served as a public forum for consumer-like reviews of dating partners, and that the plaintiff had not demonstrated a probability of prevailing on his claims at the early stage required by the anti-SLAPP motion. To add insult to the financial injury, the judge ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant's attorney's fees of $18,000 under the mandatory fee-shifting provision of California's anti-SLAPP law. Total cost: $45,000 and no removal.
That outcome is not an anomaly. It is becoming the standard result for AWDTSG defamation lawsuits filed in states with strong anti-SLAPP statutes. If you are considering suing someone who posted about you in an "Are We Dating the Same Guy" group, you need to understand the anti-SLAPP landscape before you spend a dollar on legal fees. The rules have changed, and the strategies that might have worked three years ago are now failing with increasing consistency.
Read the full article at https://teaappgreenflags.com/blog/awdtsg-anti-slapp-defamation-lawsuit-guide
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