Discovery Denied Because Plaintiff Failed to Show “Good Cause” Under TCPA

The Court of Appeals has granted mandamus relief to the defendants in the defamation lawsuit brought by the teenaged son of baseball player Torii Hunter. The suit arises out of sexual assault charges that a grand jury eventually no-billed. In the subsequent defamation case, the defendants moved to dismiss under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, which requires the plaintiff in such a case to come forward with prima facie evidence of each element of the case at an early stage of the litigation. The plaintiff responded with an emergency motion seeking leave to take the depositions of one of the alleged victims and her mother.  The trial court granted leave, but the Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff’s briefing had not stated any “good cause” for the discovery, as required by the TCPA, and at the hearing on the motion had only argued that the depositions were necessary “in order to defend the motion to dismiss.” Without any specific showing of good cause in the record, the Court of Appeals concluded that the trial court had abused its discretion in allowing the depositions and conditionally granted mandamus relief.

In re D.C., No. 05-13-00944-CV