Texas Anti-SLAPP Law: TCPA Deadlines, Exemptions, and Fees

Texas anti-SLAPP law, formally the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA), lets you file a motion to dismiss within 60 days of being served with a lawsuit that targets your protected speech, petitioning, or association. If the court agrees the suit is based on that protected activity and the plaintiff can’t back the claims up with clear and specific evidence, the case is dismissed and you recover your attorney’s fees. The statute lives in Chapter 27 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

What Activity the TCPA Protects

The statute covers three categories: free speech, the right to petition, and the right of association.¹

Free speech means a communication connected to a “matter of public concern.” The statute defines that term to include statements about a public official, public figure, or person who has drawn substantial public attention; matters of political, social, or other community interest; and any subject of concern to the public.¹

The right to petition covers communications tied to judicial, legislative, executive, or other governmental proceedings. That includes statements filed in a lawsuit, testimony at a public hearing, and communications intended to prompt government review.² The right of association protects people who join with others to promote or defend shared interests linked to a governmental proceeding or a matter of public concern.

The 60-Day Deadline and What to File

A TCPA motion to dismiss must be filed no later than the 60th day after you are served with the lawsuit.³ The court can extend that window for good cause, and the parties can agree to an extension. Miss the deadline without either, and you generally lose access to this defense.

The motion identifies each claim you are challenging and explains why the lawsuit is based on or responds to your exercise of free speech, petitioning, or association. Defendants typically attach affidavits laying out the context of the communication and tying it to a protected category. Written notice of the hearing has to reach the other side at least 21 days before the hearing, and the plaintiff’s response is due at least seven days before.³

One access limit worth knowing: government entities, agencies, and officials or employees acting in an official capacity cannot file a TCPA motion.³

How the Court Decides

The moment you file the motion, discovery in the case is suspended. No depositions, no document requests, no interrogatories until the court rules.³ That freeze is one of the most valuable features of the statute for a defendant facing a harassment suit.

From there, the court works through a three-step burden analysis under Section 27.005.

First, you have to demonstrate that the lawsuit is based on or responds to your exercise of a protected right. The statute uses “demonstrates” without specifying an evidentiary standard, so this step turns on connecting the challenged claims to protected activity with real evidence.⁴

Second, if you clear that step, the burden shifts to the plaintiff. They must establish by “clear and specific evidence” a prima facie case for each essential element of every claim they’ve brought.⁴ This is the step that ends most SLAPP suits. A plaintiff who sued to silence or harass rarely has the proof to satisfy it.

Third, even if the plaintiff meets that bar, the court must still dismiss if you establish an affirmative defense or other grounds entitling you to judgment as a matter of law.⁴

The timing is meant to be fast. The hearing must be set no later than 60 days after the motion is served, and the court has to issue its ruling within 30 days after the hearing ends.⁴ If the judge doesn’t rule in time, the motion is denied by operation of law, and you can appeal that deemed denial.⁵

Lawsuits Where the TCPA Doesn’t Apply

Section 27.010 lists categories of cases the statute doesn’t reach, and the 2019 amendments made that list considerably longer. If your case falls into one of these, the motion to dismiss is off the table regardless of whether protected speech was involved:

Enforcement actions brought by the attorney general, district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney on behalf of the state or a political subdivision.
Suits against someone primarily in the business of selling or leasing goods or services, where the challenged statement relates to those business activities and targets actual or potential customers.
Personal injury claims, wrongful death actions, and survival claims.
Claims brought under the Insurance Code or arising from an insurance contract.
Actions arising from officer-director, employer-employee, or independent contractor relationships that involve misappropriation of trade secrets or corporate opportunities, or enforcement of non-disparagement or non-compete agreements.
Actions filed under several titles of the Family Code, and applications for protective orders.
DTPA claims under Chapter 17 of the Business and Commerce Code, other than those governed by certain specific subsections.
Common law fraud claims.
Landlord-tenant eviction actions under the Property Code.
Attorney disciplinary proceedings.
Claims under the Texas Whistleblower Act.
Legal malpractice claims brought by a client or former client against their attorney.

A carve-back preserves protection for journalism, artistic expression, and the processing or communication of consumer opinions or commentary, even when the commercial speech, DTPA, or common law fraud exemptions would otherwise apply.⁶

Attorney’s Fees, Sanctions, and the Risk of a Bad Motion

If the court grants your motion, it must award you court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. That award is mandatory, not discretionary.⁷

On top of that, the court may impose sanctions against the plaintiff sufficient to deter similar filings in the future. Sanctions are discretionary, and the judge decides whether and how much based on the circumstances.⁷

The fee-shifting also runs the other direction. If the court finds your motion to dismiss was frivolous or filed solely to delay the case, it can award court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees to the plaintiff instead.⁷ Filing a weak motion just to trigger the discovery stay is a real risk, not a free option.

Interlocutory Appeals

You don’t have to wait for a final judgment to appeal. Whether the trial court grants or denies the motion, either side can take an immediate interlocutory appeal, and the appellate courts are required to expedite it.⁵ The same expedited treatment covers a deemed denial when the trial court misses its 30-day ruling deadline.

During the appeal, the discovery stay and the broader stay of trial court proceedings generally hold, so you aren’t pulled through expensive pretrial work while the appellate court decides whether the case should have been dismissed in the first place.

1
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 27.001 – Definitions
2
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 27 – Actions Involving the Exercise of Certain Constitutional Rights
3
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 27.003 – Motion to Dismiss
4
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 27.005 – Ruling
5
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 27.008 – Appeal
6
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 27.010 – Exemptions
7
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 27.009 – Damages and Costs