Kevin Shuvalov

In: Letter to Harris County Commissioners Court from #txlege members urges court not to “stretch interpretations of statute” in use of @HCTRA surplus funds. #Houston

Just another day on the house floor with my friend @CharlesTX127 #hd133 #txlege

I think I may have a new contender for "Worst Bill of the 89th Legislature." @ManoForStateRep, come collect your award! As many of you know, the Texas Citizens Participation Act (Texas' anti-SLAPP law) is under attack in the legislature this session. This is the law that protects the little guy from crushing litigation. SLAPP bullies have been trying to gut the right of their targets to appeal bad trial court rulings. That's a big fight this session, and we need all hands on deck. Now, there's an even worse bill. HB 2988 by Rep. Mano DeAyala would give trial courts a free hand to give out bounties to SLAPP bullies. Yeah, you read that right. At first blush, HB 2988 appears to strip Texans of their right to recover their attorney's fees if they get a lawsuit dismissed under the TCPA. The law today ensures that if you're the victim of a SLAPP suit, you can be made whole by getting back the fees you paid to get the frivolous lawsuit dismissed. Getting rid of that would be bad enough. Some bully sues you, and the court finds the lawsuit infringed on your First Amendment rights, and he can't even put up a "prima facie" case (meaning the lawsuit was frivolous). And yet, if he's got deep pockets, he still wins because you were forced to pay a lawyer to get the lawsuit dismissed. Most folks don't have 50-100k laying around to defend their 1A rights. But HB 2988 doesn't just get rid of the award of attorney's fees. It doesn't even just make them discretionary to a SLAPP victim. Instead—and this is the crazy part—the bill says that if the lawsuit is covered by the TCPA, then the trial court has a free hand to award attorneys' fees to EITHER SIDE as the court finds it "equitable and just." So if you're like those pro-life activists who criticized NARAL or Planned Parenthood and those organizations sue you in some urban district court before a judge who covets their 100% NARAL rating, and the lawsuit is based on your exercise of protected First Amendment rights, then that judge has a free hand to award attorney's fees to the Plaintiffs if the judge thinks its "equitable and just." As you may know, the general "American Rule" is that you have to pay your own attorney's fees. If someone runs your child down with their car, you can sue them. But you have to pay your own attorney to do so. Even if you win damages, they don't pay your fees. And there's no authority for the court to shift those fees to you. But under HB 2988, if someone sued you and that lawsuit was based upon YOUR PROTECTED FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS, that fact would give the trial court authority to award the PLAINTIFF attorney's fees against you. Arguably even if you got the lawsuit dismissed! Obviously I would presume that Mr. DeAyala simply has no idea what he's doing with this legislation. This is an absurdly clumsy mechanism for what he's likely trying to do, which is strip you of your right to compensation when you're the victim of a frivolous lawsuit. Like I said. Worst bill I've seen all session.

Day 3 of @ManoForStateRep Watch: Burrows or Cook? No secret text message that can’t be shared with anyone - like the one used to get you off last night’s resolution hook. If you want, you can simply cut and paste the below in a post: “I commit to voting for @DavidCookTexas on January 14th, 2025, for the next Texas House Speaker as he is the rightful Republican caucus nominee. Furthermore, I ask Rep Burrows to remove me from his list of supporters.” @MichaelBerrySho @MQSullivan @lukemaciastx @abrahamgeorge @charliekirk11 @houston_cf @KennethRWebster @TheCalvinCooli1 @TweetTonyMac @rdgarcia03 @bradj_TX

The case was delayed due to judge DaSean Jones’ filing anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss. Presiding Judge last year called the motion “frivolous” & has ordered Jones to pay $65k for Pierce’s legal fees. #Houston thetexan.news/elections/2022…