MONEYWEB app instead? Court ruling says mining group MRC is abusing court process Australian mining group MRC and its CEO’s attempt to bring defamation suits against South Africans questioning its environmental and corporate practices, defeated. 00:01 Image: Shutterstock In a ground-breaking ruling, Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath has set a high bar for anyone contemplating bringing a Slapp suit as a way of silencing criticism of corporate behaviour. The ruling says corporations should not be allowed to weaponise our legal system against ordinary citizens and activists to intimidate and silence them. A Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (Slapp) suit is outlawed in many parts of the world on the grounds that they are intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics, by burdening them with the cost of a legal defence until they abandon their criticism or opposition.