Brenner
DALLAS (Legal Newsline) - A law firm accused of conspiring with a company’s enemies to undermine a rail terminal project in West Texas succeeded in partly dismissing the claims against it by citing a law designed to protect citizens against lawsuits over their public participation in controversial issues.
Centurion Logistics sued its former lawyer Jules Brenner and his firm Strasburger & Price last year, accusing them of conspiring with its partners-turned-competitors in a proposed terminal near Pecos to serve oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin. A Texas appeals court agreed that most of the claims were barred by the Texas Citizens Participation Act, which protects “petitions” and communications related to judicial proceedings. But the appeals court allowed claims alleging breach of fiduciary duty to proceed.