The TCPA Goes to the Fair

The law firm of Riggs & Ray and the State Fair of Texas have been involved in a long-running dispute about the firm’s “public information” requests to the Fair. In the latest chapter, Riggs & Ray, P.C. v. State of Fair of Texas, the Fifth Court reversed the TCPA dismissal of a declaratory-judgment lawsuit brought by R&R against the Fair about the Fair’s public-inforaation obligations, finding that the Fair had not established a sufficient connection to the rights of petition or speech. A dissent said that the majority required too tight a connection to protected activity, noting: “The predicate communication here is SFT’s thrice judicially communicated (right to
petition) statement that it is not required to provide information to R&R regarding the City of Dallas’s financial relations with SFT (right of free speech regarding a matter of public concern),” and cautioning that the majority’s approach would weaken protection against SLAPP suits, “a category of cases at the heart of why the legislature enacted the TCPA in the first place.” No. 05-17-00973-CV (Sept. 5, 2019) (mem. op.)