(Podcast) The Briefing: IP Rights and the “Public Good” Exemption to California’s Anti-SLAPP Law: An Update
The Briefing: IP Rights and the “Public Good” Exemption to California’s Anti-SLAPP Law: An Update
Nevada, like California, has enacted an anti-SLAPP law that is intended to protect citizens' First Amendment rights to petition the government for redress of grievances and to free speech by limiting the chilling effect of...more
Last week, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed the quantum of evidence required for a plaintiff to support a prima facie case and survive a motion to dismiss brought under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, Texas’s...more
An anti-SLAPP motion was properly denied because the claims for damages arose from breach of contract and tort actions, not from any protected First Amendment activity. Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, LLC v City of...more
Can defendants use anti-SLAPP statutes to dismiss meritorious trade secrets misappropriation lawsuits? A recent decision by the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas suggests not....more
In a trilogy of recent cases, the Texas Courts of Appeals have employed the “commercial speech” exception to exclude certain business claims from the scope of the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act (“TCPA”). This trend will...more
On August 23, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in Klocke v. Watson, 17-11320, 2019 WL 3977545, at *1 (5th Cir. Aug. 23, 2019), holding that the Texas Citizens...more
On August 23, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion resolving “an issue that has brewed for several years in this circuit” regarding the intersection of Texas free speech protections and...more
The California Court of Appeal affirmed dismissal of a former freelancer’s defamation and employment-related claims against the Times. Frederick Theodore Rall III, a political cartoonist and blogger for the paper, brought...more
Last year, we posted that a Georgia federal court held, in a lawsuit against CNN, that Georgia’s anti-SLAPP statute had no application in federal court. CNN appealed that decision and, last Thursday, the Eleventh Circuit...more
In an opinion and order issued recently, a Nevada state court dismissed with prejudice a defamation claim brought by businessman Steve Wynn against the Associated Press (AP) and one of its reporters. ...more
In Reichenbach v. Haydock, 92 Mass.App.Ct. 567 (2017), the Massachusetts Appeals Court clarified the evolving legal framework used to determine whether a case should be dismissed under G.L. c. 231, § 59H, the anti-Strategic...more
The Texas Citizens Participation Act (“TCPA”), enacted in 2011, is the Texas version of an Anti-SLAPP statute, which have been enacted by over 30 states around the country to protect free speech and the right of association...more
A court of appeal dismissed a challenge to a county’s characterization of stored chemicals as hazardous waste, holding that by making that determination and forwarding it to the district attorney, the county had engaged in...more
The Second Circuit has now affirmed dismissal of a defamation lawsuit brought by casino magnate and Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson against the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) and two members of its...more
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Makes it Harder to Dismiss Lawsuits by Utilizing the “Anti-SLAPP” Statute - In Blanchard v. Steward Carney Hospital, SJC-12141 (May 23, 2017) (Slip Op.) the Massachusetts Supreme...more
In April, the D.C. Circuit held that the District of Columbia anti-SLAPP statute does not apply in a federal court diversity case because “Federal Rules 12 and 56 answer the same question as the anti-SLAPP Act’s special...more
To conclude the series, we look at one more opinion — Serafine v. Blunt, No. 03-12-00726-CV, 2015 WL 2061922 (Tex. App.—Austin May 1, 2015). This case dealt with a property dispute, but the real interest comes from the...more
Since we published Part 3 that discussed the details of an interesting case here in Houston, Schlumberger v. Rutherford, the First Court of Appeals issued its opinion on Tuesday. The best description of the decision is a...more
The Texas Anti-SLAPP law is known as the Texas Citizens Participation Act (the “TCPA” found at Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code at § 27.001, et seq.). “If a legal action is based on, relates to, or is in response to a party’s...more