§ 27.010.Exemptions

This is the section the 2019 amendments were mostly about. Before them, the TCPA was being aimed at trade secret suits, non-compete enforcement, employment disputes, and ordinary commercial litigation. The exemption list is how the Legislature stopped it.

Thirteen exemptions. Enforcement actions brought by the attorney general or a district, criminal district, or county attorney. Commercial speech — actions against a person primarily engaged in selling or leasing goods or services, where the statement arose out of that sale or lease and the intended audience was an actual or potential customer. Claims for bodily injury, wrongful death, or survival. Actions under the Insurance Code or arising from an insurance contract. Actions arising from an officer-director, employer-employee, or independent contractor relationship seeking recovery for misappropriation of trade secrets or corporate opportunities, or to enforce a non-disparagement agreement or covenant not to compete. Family Code and protective order matters. DTPA claims, other than those governed by § 17.49(a). Actions where a party raises specified medical peer review defenses. Eviction suits. Attorney disciplinary proceedings. Whistleblower actions under Chapter 554 of the Government Code. Common law fraud. And legal malpractice claims by a client or former client.

Subsection (b) claws back two categories, and it overrides the commercial speech, DTPA, and fraud exemptions. The chapter still applies to a legal action arising from any act related to gathering, receiving, posting, or processing information for communication to the public — "whether or not the information is actually communicated to the public" — and to actions related to consumer opinions, commentary, complaints, reviews, or ratings of businesses.

Those two carve-backs protect the press and consumer review platforms, which were the constituencies the exemptions would otherwise have stripped of protection.

Subsection (c) protects victims. The chapter applies to a legal action against a victim or alleged victim of family violence, dating violence, or specified Penal Code offences, based on a public or private communication — so a defamation suit brought against an accuser remains subject to dismissal.