Ferchichi v. Whataburger Restaurants LLC
Supreme Court of Texas, Nos. 23-0568 & 23-0993 (May 9, 2025)
Opinion by Justice Lehrmann (linked here)
Resolving a disagreement among the State’s courts of appeals, the Supreme Court of Texas holds that “a motion to compel and for sanctions does not present a substantive underlying claim for relief and therefore is not a ‘legal action’ subject to dismissal under the TCPA.”
Under the TCPA, a party may move to dismiss a “legal action” that “is based on or is in response to” a TCPA-protected right or that “arises from” certain protected communications or conduct. TCPRC § 27.003(a). “The TCPA defines ‘legal action’ as ‘a lawsuit, cause of action, petition, complaint, cross-claim, or counterclaim or any other judicial pleading or filing that requests legal, declaratory, or equitable relief.’” Id. § 27.001(6).
The Supreme Court acknowledged that the catch-all phrase at the end of § 27.001(6)—“any other judicial pleading or filing that requests legal, declaratory, or equitable relief”—is “undeniably broad.” “But,” the Court said, “broad is not limitless.”
Applying the doctrine of ejusdem generis—i.e., that “when ‘more specific items are followed by a catchall “other,” ... the latter must be limited to things like the former’”—the Court concluded that “the catch-all phrase … should be limited to filings that are ‘like’” the specific items listed in the statute—“a lawsuit, cause of action, petition, complaint, cross-claim, or counterclaim.” It explained that the specifically enumerated filings “are connected by their function of commencing (or materially amending) a proceeding on a substantive legal claim—e.g., negligence, fraud, or deceptive trade practices—against another party.” By contrast, the Court said, motions to compel and for sanctions “are not remotely ‘like’ a ‘lawsuit, cause of action, petition, complaint, cross-claim, or counterclaim.’ Rather, they are ‘based on conduct ancillary to the substantive claims in the case’ and cannot stand on their own.” The fact that motions for sanctions seek monetary relief does not alter that analysis. Consequently, the Supreme Court held, a “motion to compel and for sanctions … is not a ‘legal action’ subject to dismissal under the TCPA.”
