On June 14, 2013, Jackson Walker won yet another victory for its client, the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Dallas, Inc., when the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas in Dallas upheld the trial court’s decision to dismiss claims against the BBB pursuant to the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA), the state’s anti-SLAPP statute.

The original case was the first court victory under the TCPA, which was adopted in June of 2011 to discourage retaliatory lawsuits brought against parties exercising their right to free speech. Just two months after the new law went into effect, Dallas County Judge Eric Moye granted the BBB’s motion to dismiss under the TCPA. On appeal, the court cited two previous cases involving the TCPA that were successfully argued by Jackson Walker on behalf of the BBB. Jackson Walker attorneys David Myers and Colin LeCroy represented the BBB on appeal.

The successful result in this case represents the most recent in a string of victories Jackson Walker has won under the TCPA. The Firm, through its attorneys Bob Latham and Amanda Patrick, recently won a case of first impression with regard to the commercial speech exception under the TCPA in Newspaper Holdings, Inc. v. Crazy Hotel Assisted Living Ltd. In 2012, on behalf of Univision 23 KUVN, Jackson Walker partner Chip Babcock successfully argued a case of first impression dismissing defamation claims against media clients under the TCPA. Jackson Walker has also previously won victories under the TCPA on behalf of the Houston Community College System (Chip Babcock and John Edwards) and The Burnt Orange Report (Chip Babcock, Nancy Hamilton, and Audra Gonzalez Welter).