LPHS Secures Appellate Win for Disney and Hulu

An LPHS trial team has scored a major appellate win for clients Disney and Hulu against claims brought by multiple Texas cities that accused the companies of evading a state franchise tax. In the first decision, the Fifth Court of Appeals found that the Texas Public Utility Regulatory Act, doesn't allow municipalities to bring suit against nonfranchise holders, which according to that ruling the streaming services clearly were not. 

In this latest decision a three judge panel for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed the earlier ruling that the companies do not need to obtain franchise licenses as that decision “was not clearly erroneous” and that "a decision rendered in a former appeal is generally binding in a later appeal of the same case." The companies were represented by the firm’s David Coale, Jamie Drillette, Michael K. Hurst, and  Mary Goodrich Nix.  

Read more about the ruling in Law360 here.