This month marked the fifth anniversary of a state law that Texas media outlets have successfully used to dismiss meritless lawsuits filed to silence reporting on matters of public concern.
TAB helped pass the state’s anti-SLAPP law, the Citizen Participation Act, in the 2011 Texas Legislature...
Former KTXS-TV news director and anchor Paul Brown moderated the session which featured bill author state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi; Justice Jane Bland, Texas First Court of Appeals; Bama Brown, iHeartMedia Austin; Terri Burke, Texas ACLU; and Laura Prather, Haynes and Boone, LLP...
Prather, testifying before the House subcommittee last week, noted there were three reasons why passage of a federal anti-SLAPP law was needed.
"First, there is a patch-work of state laws in the area creating an invitation for forum shopping and inconsistent application of laws; second, there is a split of authority as to whether state anti-SLAPP laws apply in federal court; and, third, even in those states that have anti-SLAPP statutes, they generally do not apply to federal claims."
Excerpted from the Texas Association of Broadcasters Newsletter. To read the full article, please click here.