From today's decision by the Texas Court of Appeals (First District) in Zoanni v. Hogan, written by Justice Veronica Rivas-Molloy and joined by Chief Justice Terry Adams and Justice Julie Countiss; the opinion is 81 pages long, so I excerpt just the quick summary of the facts and the verdict:
Appellee Lemuel David Hogan is an executive pastor at the Spring First Church in Spring, Texas ("Church"). He and Appellant Stephanie Montagne Zoanni met at the Church and they married in January 2004. In 2011, they divorced…. This appeal stems from the parties' post-divorce suit to modify custody of their daughter.
In March 2014, Hogan filed a petition to modify the parent-child relationship. As part of his petition, Hogan asserted claims against Zoanni for defamation, invasion of privacy, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Hogan also requested injunctive relief in the form of a permanent injunction enjoining Zoanni from communicating with third parties about him. He alleged that beginning in July 2013, Zoanni started making false statements about him, claiming he is "a child molester, [a] pervert, [and a] pedophile."
He alleged that Zoanni falsely represented to third parties, including Child Protective Services ("CPS") and law enforcement officers, that he was "abusing" their daughter Mary, and that he "is a child molester, involved with child pornography, and otherwise is of poor character and mistreats women and children." Hogan alleged that Zoanni made these and other similar statements online, to CPS, and in written communications to Hogan's church leadership….
