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Ind. Code § 34-7-7-9

Motion to dismiss; procedures and determination

Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Shepard v. Schurz Communications, Inc. (2006)

Most recently applied in Paul Gresk, Trustee for the Bankruptcy Estate of Derek VanWinkle and Stacey VanWinkle on behalf of M v. and A v. their minor children v. Cortney Demetris, M.D. (July 2017)

As added by P.L.114-1998, SEC.7.

How often courts cite this section

20062010201720
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Sec. 9. (a) If a person files a motion to dismiss under this chapter, the court in which the motion is filed shall do the following:

(1) Treat the motion as a motion for summary judgment.

(2) Establish a reasonable time period, not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) days, to expedite and rule on the motion.

(3) Specify time limits for the discovery of evidence to respond to material issues raised in the motion.

(b) The person who files a motion to dismiss must state with specificity the public issue or issue of public interest that prompted the act in furtherance of the person's right of petition or free speech under the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of Indiana.

(c) The court shall make its determination based on the facts contained in the pleadings and affidavits filed and discovered under the expedited proceeding.

(d) The motion to dismiss shall be granted if the court finds that the person filing the motion has proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the act upon which the claim is based is a lawful act in furtherance of the person's right of petition or free speech under the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of Indiana.

(e) The court must act on the motion to dismiss within thirty (30) days from the submission of evidence made by motion to the court that is discovered within the specific expedited time period allowed.

(f) If a court does not act within the thirty (30) days provided in subsection (e), the person filing the motion may appeal the matter based on the court's failure to rule on the motion.

Official source: Indiana General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Indiana statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.