Fiberwave v. AT&T Enterprises

2025 Tex. Bus. 42
CourtTexas Business Court
DecidedOctober 29, 2025
Docket25-BC01A-0013
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2025 Tex. Bus. 42 (Fiberwave v. AT&T Enterprises) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Business Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fiberwave v. AT&T Enterprises, 2025 Tex. Bus. 42 (Tex. Super. Ct. 2025).

Opinion

FILED IN BUSINESS COURT OF TEXAS BEVERLY CRUMLEY, CLERK ENTERED 10/29/2025

2025 Tex. Bus. 42

The Business Court of Texas, First Division

FIBERWAVE, INC., § Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant, § v. § AT&T ENTERPRISES, LLC, § Defendant/Counter- § Plaintiff/Third-Party § Cause No. 25-BC01A-0013 Plaintiff, § v. § SPEARHEAD NETWORKS § TECH, INC., FAISAL § CHAUDHRY, and CHRIS PERCY, § Third-Party Defendants. §

═══════════════════════════════════════ Memorandum Opinion and Partial Summary Judgment on Plaintiff’s Tort Claims ═══════════════════════════════════════

Before the Court is Defendant AT&T Enterprises, LLC’s Motion for

Partial Summary Judgment on Plaintiff’s Tort Claims. Defendant (AT&T)

contends Plaintiff’s (Fiberwave’s) tortious interference with contract,

defamation, and business disparagement claims are barred by the limitation- of-liability provision in the parties’ 2022 Alliance Program Agreement (the

Agreement). The motion is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.

I. Section 18.6 of the Agreement does not bar Fiberwave’s claims because its damages did not arise from AT&T’s termination of the Agreement.

Section 18.6 of the limitation-of-liability provision in the Agreement is

not ambiguous and can be construed as a matter of law. See Great Am. Ins. Co.

v. Primo, 512 S.W.3d 890, 893 (Tex. 2017) (noting that “the goal of contract

interpretation is to ascertain the parties’ true intent expressed by the plain

language they used”). That section states:

UPON TERMINATION OF THIS AGREEMENT PURSUANT TO THE TERMINATION RIGHTS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT, NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE TO THE OTHER, EITHER FOR COMPENSATION OR FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND OR CHARACTER WHATSOEVER ARISING FROM SUCH TERMINATION, WHETHER ON ACCOUNT OF THE LOSS BY AT&T OR SP OF PRESENT OR PROSPECTIVE PROFITS ON SALES OR ANTICIPATED SALES, OR EXPENDITURES, INVESTMENTS OR COMMITMENTS MADE IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT, DEVELOPMENT OR MAINTENANCE OF SP’S BUSINESS, OR ON ACCOUNT OF ANY OTHER CAUSE OR THING WHATSOEVER, EXCEPT THAT TERMINATION WILL NOT PREJUDICE OR OTHERWISE AFFECT THE RIGHTS OR LIABILITIES OF THE PARTIES WITH RESPECT TO ACTIVITIES PRIOR TO SUCH TERMINATION.

AT&T’s Appx. Ex. 1, Pg. APP025 (emphasis added).

Page 2 AT&T contends that Fiberwave’s tort claims are barred under Section

18.6 because they arise from AT&T's termination of the Agreement. The

Court is not persuaded. Importantly, the question is not whether AT&T’s

complained-of acts arose from the termination of the Agreement, but whether

Fiberwave’s damages did.

AT&T’s argument hinges on the breadth of the phrase “arising from

such termination.” Interpreting a similar phrase, the Texas Supreme Court

has held “the phrase ‘arise out of’ simply requires showing a causal

connection or relation . . . ” Yowell v. Granite Operating Co., 620 S.W.3d 335,

353 (Tex. 2020); see also Utica Nat’l Ins. Co. of Tex. v. Am. Indem. Co., 141

S.W.3d 198, 203 (Tex. 2004). Earlier this year, the Business Court observed

that “courts interpret ‘arising out of’ as denoting a broad causal

relationship—akin to ‘but for’ causation instead of the narrower and limiting

linkage required of ‘proximate’ causation.” Atlas IDF, LP v. NexPoint Real

Est. Partners, LLC, 2025 Tex. Bus. 16, ¶ 29 (1st Div. 2025).

Admittedly, but-for causation “has in itself no limiting principle; it

literally embraces every event that hindsight can logically identify in the

causative chain.” Plains Expl. & Prod. Co. v. Torch Energy Advisors Inc. (Plains

Page 3 Exploration), 473 S.W.3d 296, 308 (Tex. 2015) (quoting Moki Mac River

Expeditions v. Drugg, 221 S.W.3d 569, 581 (Tex. 2007)). However, phrases

such as “arise from” cannot be viewed “divorced from their surroundings.”

Id. at 309.

In Plains Exploration, the Supreme Court rejected expansive

interpretations of the phrases “arising from,” “with respect to,” and

“attributable to” where broad but-for causation would have led to an illogical

and unreasonable result: inconsistency with the parties’ expressed intent. Id.

at 308-09. The Court noted that a broad but-for causal standard—in that case,

one allowing “everything in existence or previously occurring . . . [to] be a but

for cause of all that follows”—would render temporal divisions elsewhere in

the contract “utterly meaningless.” Id. at 309. The Court explained, “To give

effect to the words the parties chose, there must be more than a simple causal

connection.” Id.

“[W]hen parties narrow the scope of their rights and obligations

purposefully, the Court must enforce the terms expressed within the four

corners of the contract.” Yowell, 620 S.W.3d at 353. Here, as in Plains

Exploration, other language in the Agreement requires a similarly tapered

Page 4 reading of “arising from.” Specifically, Section 18.6 must be read in context

with Section 18.2 of the Agreement, wherein the parties used the words

“arising out of or related to” rather than simply “arising from.” See infra, Pg.

7; AT&T’s Appx. Ex. 1, Pg. APP025. The added language, “related to,” means

“‘a connection with or reference to.’” Colorado v. Tyco Valves & Controls, L.P.,

432 S.W.3d 885, 890 (Tex. 2014) (quoting Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463

U.S. 85, 96-97 (1983)). Its ordinary meaning does not require a causal

relationship. Shaw, 463 U.S. at 97 n.16. As such, the phrase “arising out of or

related to” is interpreted more broadly than “arising from.”

So while it is true that the but-for causal standard may “embrace[] every

event that hindsight can logically identify in the causative chain,” Plains

Exploration, 473 S.W.3d at 308 (quoting Moki Mac River Expeditions, 221

S.W.3d at 581), the parties’ use of “arising from” here must be read more

narrowly. Doing so rightfully preserves the meaningful difference reflected in

the two phrases used in the Agreement: “arising from” in Section 18.6 and

“arising out of or relating to” in Section 18.2. See Brittingham v. Mirabent,

No. 04-17-00028-CV, 2017 WL 2852627, at *5 (Tex. App.—San Antonio

July 5, 2017, no pet.) (mem op., not designated for publication). A broader

Page 5 interpretation, such as that urged by AT&T—encompassing every logically

connected event subsequent to its termination of the Agreement—would

improperly negate the distinction in the parties’ word choice. Accordingly, the

Court finds that “arising from” in Section 18.6, viewed in context, has limits,

and cannot be interpreted broadly enough to support AT&T’s argument that,

but for the termination of the 2022 [Alliance Program] Agreement, Fiberwave

would not have sustained any of its claimed damages.1

The Court concludes that Section 18.6 does not categorically bar

Fiberwave’s claims for damages attributable to AT&T’s (alleged) post-

termination acts, namely: issuance of a press release, communication via

email, and publication on a website. While AT&T may not have committed the

complained-of acts but for the termination, Fiberwave’s pleading seeks

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Fiberwave v. AT&T Enterprises
2025 Tex. Bus. 42 (Texas Business Court, 2025)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2025 Tex. Bus. 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fiberwave-v-att-enterprises-texbizct-2025.