The state’s highest court announced Tuesday it will examine the “public interest” parameters of a 2019 statute designed to protect Coloradans from meritless lawsuits that target free expression.

In a defamation case brought by a veterinary clinic, the Court of Appeals ruled last year that the anti-SLAPP law does not protect online criticisms “made primarily for the purpose of airing a private dispute.” The “vast majority” of statements made about the Tender Care Veterinary Center in Falcon did not involve “a ‘public issue” or an “issue of public interest,” a three-judge appellate panel determined, affirming a district court’s denial of the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case.

The defendants asked the Colorado Supreme Court to review the precedent-setting opinion, arguing that if it’s allowed to stand, “all trial judges in the state will be free to impose overly constrained views of what constitutes a matter of legitimate public interest. Then, few, if any, individuals will feel at liberty to alert the public to potentially unqualified practitioners and to business operators who actively try to silence their displeased customers.”