D.K.W. v. Source for PublicData.com

526 S.W.3d 619, 2017 WL 2793966, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 6057
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 28, 2017
DocketNo. 05-16-00815-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 526 S.W.3d 619 (D.K.W. v. Source for PublicData.com) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D.K.W. v. Source for PublicData.com, 526 S.W.3d 619, 2017 WL 2793966, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 6057 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by Justice Boatright

Appellant D.K.W. sued appellees The Source for PublicData.com and Shadow-soft, Inc., alleging that they violated Chapter 109, Texas Business and Commerce Code, by publishing her expunged criminal record. The trial court granted summary judgment for appellees. Because appellees did not establish that they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law, we reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the cause for further proceedings.

Background

On November 14, 2009, D.K.W. was arrested for furnishing alcohol to or purchasing alcohol for a minor. Her charge was eventually reduced to disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor. She received a fine-only deferred adjudication which was- dis[623]*623missed on January 11, 2010. Texas law allows for the expunction of records when a person receives a fine-only deferred adjudication that is ultimately dismissed. Tex. Code Crim. Proq, Ann. art. 45.051(e) (West Supp. 2016). D.K.W. obtained a court order on May 19, 2014, that all of the records relating to her arrest and prosecution be destroyed.

Appellee The Source for PublicData.com (“PublicData.com”) is a private business entity that publishes criminal record information on a website. Appellee Shadowsoft, Inc. is an owner of PublicData.com. D.K.W. notified appellees of the expunction order, but appellees did not remove her criminal record information from their website until more than seven months later, after D.K.W. had filed this lawsuit.

Appellees filed a motion for summary judgment on both traditional and no-eviT dence grounds. They asserted five grounds:

1. D.K.W. lacks standing, .because she has not sustained any concrete harm;
2. D.K.W. failed to prove that appel-lees charged a fee of $150 or more to remove her criminal record information from their website, and failed to prove that appellees obtained the records in question from the Texas Department of Public Safety;
3. The criminal record information in question was not “published”;
4. D.K.W. did not give proper notice to appellees because the expunction order she sent appellees was not final; and
5. D.K.W. may not recover damages and attorney’s fees without proof of “independent damage, injury or harm.”

In support of their motion, appellees relied on D.KW.’s interrogatory and disclosure responses and the affidavit of Dale Bruce Stringfellow, Jr. Stringfellow is president of Shadowsoft, Inc., and “president of the company that is the general partner for” PublicData.com. He testified:

• He conducted a search on appellees’ databases for any records concerning D.K.W. He determined that no one other than D.KW.’s lawyer had conducted a search for D.KW.’s name in appellees’ records;
•. “PubhcData has never obtained any information of any kind or criminal record information pursuant to a request for. public information under Chapter 552, Government Code; or purchased or otherwise obtained by it or any affiliated business entity from the Department of Public Safety under Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code”;
• Appellees have never charged a fee ■ of $150 or more to remove criminal record information from their databases; and
• Appellees do make changes to their databasés, but have “requested” that their “customers” not “send ex-pungement orders.” They “rely solely on complete database updates from the recording government entity” because they have received “so many counterfeit expungement docu- ’ ments,”

The trial court granted appellees’ motion for summary-judgment-without specifying the grounds. This appeal followed. In six issues, D.KW. challenges each of the grounds raised in appellees’ motion. Appel-lees respond that summary judgment on each ground was proper, and additionally assert that the ’declaration filed by D.KW.’s lawyer is not competent summary judgment evidence.

[624]*624Applicable Law and Standards op Review

When an order of expunction is final, “the release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the expunged records for any purpose is prohibited,” and the person arrested may deny the occurrence of the arrest and the existence of the expunction order.1 Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 55.03 (West 2006).

Chapter 109 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code governs business entities that are engaged in publication of certain criminal record information. Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Ann. §§ 109.001-.007 (West Supp. 2016). Chapter 109 applies to a business entity that (1) publishes criminal record information, and (2) requires payment of a fee or other consideration to remove, correct, or modify criminal record information. Id. § 109.002(a).2

A business entity may not publish criminal records if it has knowledge or has received notice that an order of expunction has been issued under article 55.02,3 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Id. § 109.005(a)(1). A business entity that publishes information in violation of section 109.005 is liable to the individual who is the subject of the information in an amount not to exceed $500 for each separate violation, and in the case of a continuing violation, an amount not to exceed $500 for each subsequent day on which the violation occurs. Id. § 109.005(b). An individual who prevails in an action under section 109.005 is also entitled to recover court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. Id. § 109.005(d).

We apply well-settled standards in reviewing the trial court’s summary judgment. We review the grant of summary judgment dé novo. Rico v. L-3 Commc’ns Corp., 420 S.W.3d 431, 438 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2014, no pet.). When a party files a motion for summary judgment on both no-evidence and traditional grounds, we first review the trial court’s judgment under the no-evidence standard of review. Gonzalez v. VATR Constr. LLC, 418 S.W.3d 777, 782 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2013, no pet.). Should we determine that summary judgment was appropriate under the no-evidence standard, we need not address issues related to the traditional summary judgment motion. Rico, 420 S.W.3d at 439.

We review a no-evidence summary judgment under the same legal sufficiency standard used to review a directed verdict. Id. at 438. To defeat a no-evidence summary judgment, the nonmovant is required to produce evidence that raises a genuine issue of material fact on each challenged element of its claim. Id. For a traditional summary judgment, the movant carries the burden of showing there is no genuine issue of material fact and it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Gonzalez, 418 S.W.3d at 782. A defendant is entitled to summary judgment if the evidence disproves as a matter of law at least one element of each of the plaintiffs causes of action or if it conclusively establishes all elements of an affirmative defense. Id.

[625]

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526 S.W.3d 619, 2017 WL 2793966, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 6057, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dkw-v-source-for-publicdatacom-texapp-2017.