80th Legislature: HB 129…Tort Reform Doesn’t Apply To Blogs

Over the past couple of sessions, the bogus concept of “tort reform” has been one of the top buzzwords in the legislative chambers of the Texas Capitol.

Now, however, instead of making it harder for citizens to file lawsuits, Republicans want to make it easier…for you to sue a blogger.

Although I’m aware of no court rulings in Texas that exclude websites and blogs from defamation, libel and slander (and there have been a several lasuits against bloggers) State Rep. Vicki Truitt (R-Westlake) nonetheless has filed HB 129, which would specifically provide that websites are subject to a libel suit in the same manner as any other author.

Since most bloggers agree that websites are already covered under existing defamation lawsuits, why would a blogger be upset about having this specifically defined in the Civil Practices and Remedies Code?

For starters, blogs are treated differently by the law than print media. Just as a newspaper or magazine exists “forever” in archives somewhere, a website exists perpetually (until it is taken down).

How are blogs treated differently? Instead of just requiring a retraction or apology, Triutt’s bill provides a provision by which a court can order the content removed from the web.

This is specifically geared toward bloggers, because the legislation uses the term “posting,” as opposed to “content,” “text,” “page,” or any number of other terms that could apply to a generic website that is not a blog:

(b) A party that prevails in a libel suit against the author of a defamatory statement on an Internet website is entitled to an order by the court requiring the author to:
(1) remove the posting from the Internet website; or
(2) request the Internet website to remove the defamatory statement.

Further, HB 129 fails to extend the “privilege” protection that newspapers and other periodicals have to websites, which opens the door for citizen journalists to be sued right and left.

The “Privileged Matters” clause of Chapter 73, found at Section 73.002, protects newspapers and periodicals from libel actions (excluding republication with actual malace) so long as the material covered is a fair, true and impartial account of a judicial proceeding, another official proceeding, an executive or legislative proceeding, and various other public meetings. The “privileged matters” clause also protects “reasonable and fair comment on or criticism of an official act or public official or other matter of public concern published for general information.”
When the rubber meets the road, without a revision of this section to include websites and bloggers, HB 129 is totally out of place.

Consider this: this blog and many others across Texas often publish commentary ranging from thoughts on a video in which State Rep. Gene Seaman immitated an erection to the clothing worn by a current congressman—all things the print and broadcast media do in publications from the Dallas Observer to the frames of Entertainment Tonight.

Yet, while specifically extending the right to sue bloggers for defamation without also offering us the protection we deserve and are entitled to as citizen journalists (and at this time I would also call for a complete ’shield law in Texas that includes bloggers’), a disservice is done, plain and simple.

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