§ 51.015.Costs of Appeal

A one-way fee provision attached to a single item on the interlocutory list.

In an appeal under the free speech or free press entry in the interlocutory appeal section, if the order appealed from is affirmed, the court of appeals shall order the appellant to pay all costs and reasonable attorney fees of the appeal; otherwise, each party shall be liable for and taxed its own costs.

The structure is asymmetric on purpose. An appellant who loses pays both sides; an appellant who wins pays only their own.

Identifying the appellant in that appeal explains why. The interlocutory entry covers the denial of a summary judgment based on a free speech or free press claim or defense — so the appellant is the media defendant whose motion was denied.

The provision therefore falls on the party invoking the constitutional protection. A media defendant who takes an interlocutory appeal and loses pays the plaintiff’s costs and fees.

The reason is the delay the appeal produces. An interlocutory appeal stays the commencement of trial, and a plaintiff whose case is suspended while a losing appeal is heard has borne a cost the appeal caused.

"Shall order" makes the award mandatory on affirmance, so the court has no discretion once the order is affirmed.

The fees must be reasonable, and they are the fees of the appeal — not of the litigation as a whole.

The provision applies to one entry on a list of eighteen. Interlocutory appeals under the other entries carry no fee consequence, and each side bears its own costs whatever the outcome.