From yesterday's decision by Texas Court of Appeals Justice Katy Boatman in Daly v. Lehle, joined by Justices Chad Bridges and Maritza Antú:
This appeal matches pickleball against tennis…. Defendant served as chairwoman of the courts for the Coles Crossing community, looking after the interests of local tennis players and ensuring that the community's tennis courts were well-maintained. Defendant gave monthly reports at the Coles Crossing homeowners' association board meetings.
Coles Crossing residents suggested the community install pickleball courts, so the HOA board set up an exploratory pickleball committee with members representing mixed interests: Plaintiff (team pickleball) was committee head and Defendant (team tennis) was one of several committee members. Things quickly soured, as the parties disagreed about the extent to which the tennis courts should be modified so they could double as pickleball courts.
During this time, Defendant also permitted a local tennis professional to use the courts to teach tennis lessons to children from the community. According to Defendant, she "received calls from at least four parents of clinic participants relaying serious concerns that an anonymous adult man was using his personal cell phone to take pictures of their young children doing drills on the tennis courts." Two HOA board members explained to Defendant that Plaintiff was taking the photographs to document HOA rules violations—namely, allowing a tennis professional to use multiple courts simultaneously. Plaintiff said he also relayed the reason for his photographs to Defendant.
Three months later, Defendant opened her monthly tennis report at the HOA board meeting by lobbing an accusation: she, "as a former teacher," had a "duty to report instances of sexual exploitation of minor children through photographs and videography." Defendant accused Plaintiff "of taking photographs of children for inappropriate purposes" and "implied that [he] was a pervert, pedophile, or sexual predator." Multiple community members complained to the HOA board about Defendant's statements….
Plaintiff sued, and the court held the case could go forward:
