TCPA Hearing Date Matters

A delay in holding a hearing on a TCPA motion (again) led to denial of appellate review in Vertical Holdings LLC v. LocatorX, Inc.:

“… [W]e find no information in the record to support Vertical Holdings’s suggestion that the hearing delay was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also find no information in the record to suggest the trial court canceled the October 5, 2020 hearing or suspended any TCPA deadlines as a result of any of the supreme court’s pandemic-related emergency orders.

Notably missing from the record is any information about the trial court’s docket conditions on or near October 5, 2020, the date of the original hearing setting. Also missing is any information showing good cause to reset the hearing, an agreement between the parties to reset the hearing within section 27.004’s deadlines, an extension to allow discovery under TCPA section 27.006(b), or any other efforts by Vertical Holdings to have the motion heard within section 27.004’s deadlines.”

No. 05-21-00469-CV (Jan. 14, 2022) (mem. op.).