Citizen Participation Act takes aim at frivolous lawsuits

Every Texan, from a rural homemaker to an Austin taxi driver to the Better Business Bureau, is a potential target of a SLAPP suit.

The Internet age has created a more permanent and searchable record of public participation as citizen participation in democracy grows through self-publishing, citizen journalism and other forms of speech.

However, abuses of the legal system aimed at silencing citizens also have grown.

Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have laws similar to the Texas Citizen Participation Act.

The act is comprised of House Bill 2973, sponsored by Chairman Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, and Senate Bill 1565, co-sponsored by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler.

Author Carla Main told the committee that after she wrote a book about eminent domain, a real estate developer filed half a dozen lawsuits, naming her, her publisher, the person who wrote a blurb on the back of the book and a Texas newspaper that wrote a review of the book. By including the newspaper, the Galveston County Daily News, in the lawsuit, the developer prevented Main from removing the case to federal court where, she said, "we could have moved to dismiss the case immediately."

The bill "creates a mechanism to get rid of meritless lawsuits at the outset of the proceeding and it provides for a means to help alleviate some of the burden on our court system," said Laura Prather, a First Amendment lawyer from Austin.

Shane Fitzgerald, editor of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, told the committee how last week the newspaper was threatened with a lawsuit for publishing a photo taken on a public beach during Spring Break. Fitzgerald said the paper is threatened with such lawsuits several times a month. The effect of these suits is increased costs to the newspaper and fewer resources available for reporting.

Refineries and other industries have threatened to sue newspapers over the publication of public records and safety reports from state agencies.

Also testifying was Janet Ahmad of San Antonio, and the president of Home Owners for Better Building. Ahmad said that she was sued for racketeering by KB Homes because she organized protests of the builder.