§ 25-21,244.Action involving public petition and participation; damages; standard of proof; section, how construed.

Where section 25-21,243 gives a defendant a sword, section 25-21,244 gives them a shield built into the plaintiff’s own burden of proof. In an action involving public petition and participation, a plaintiff can recover damages, including costs and attorney’s fees, only if — beyond every other element the claim already requires — the plaintiff proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant’s communication was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for whether it was false. That heightened standard applies whenever the truth or falsity of the communication matters to the underlying claim.

Clear and convincing evidence sits above the ordinary preponderance standard that governs most civil claims, and it puts the plaintiff to a harder test before a court will let the case reach a damages award. The practical effect is to protect people who speak out on permit and zoning matters from liability for good-faith mistakes or sincerely held views, reserving recovery for plaintiffs who can show something closer to intentional or reckless falsity.

Subsection (2) makes clear this heightened standard is a floor, not a ceiling: nothing here limits whatever constitutional, statutory, or common-law protections already shield defendants in these actions. A defendant can still raise every other available defense on top of this proof requirement.