Judge Aaron Haas
28th Civil District Court
A San Antonio district court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Chicago resident against a Texas physician who intentionally provoked the lawsuit by violating SB 8. According to press reports, the judge dismissed the case on the basis that plaintiff had no standing to sue because he had no injury. The judge’s ruling is the first (at least that we know of) in a direct SB 8 lawsuit, as opposed to a Rule 202 deposition or the MDL cases involving the abortion providers and Texas Right to Life.
From what we can tell from the press reports, the out-of-state plaintiff did not have counsel, so it’s unclear whether he will appeal or not. As we have previously speculated, Texas Right to Life has thus far assiduously avoided direct actions under SB 8 and have deployed the TCPA to slow down merits consideration of the other cases by intermediate appellate courts.
