Sylvester v. Texas Ass'n of Business

453 S.W.3d 519, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 13641, 2014 WL 7466617
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 19, 2014
DocketNO. 03-12-00081-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 453 S.W.3d 519 (Sylvester v. Texas Ass'n of Business) 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
Sylvester v. Texas Ass'n of Business, 453 S.W.3d 519, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 13641, 2014 WL 7466617 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

OPINION

Melissa Goodwin, Justice

Appellants James Sylvester, Ken Yar-borough, and Josephine Miller, candidates for the Texas House of Representatives in the 2002 general election, brought suit against appellees Texas Association of Business (TAB), Bill Hammond, the Texas Business and Commerce Political Action Committee (BACPAC), CIGNA Healthcare of Texas, Inc., and Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, alleging Election Code violations. Appellants sought damages based on “voter education” mailers that TAB disseminated and alleged in-kind political contributions from TAB to BACPAC during the 2002 general election cycle. See Tex. Elec. Code §§ 253.131, 254.231. The trial court granted final summary judgment in favor of appellees. On appeal, appellants raise six issues challenging the judgment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.1

[522]*522BACKGROUND

TAB is a non-profit corporation whose stated mission is “to build the best business climate on the planet through legislative action on the state and federal levels.” TAB “lobbies on every issue that impacts business to ensure that employers’ opinions are being heard.” Bill Hammond is TAB’s president and chief executive officer.

A few months before the 2002 general election, TAB solicited money from corporations to fund a “voter education project.” Hammond sent a memorandum dated August 22, 2002, to “Texas Business Leaders.” He stated that the goal was to raise one-million dollars and that “[o]ur strategy [was] simple: to educate voters about pro-business candidates through an aggressive direct mail program.” He also informed the corporations that “[c]ontributions for this purpose [were] not reportable” and provided an opinion letter from a Texas ethics attorney “regarding the legality of corporate expenditures for voter education programs.” In his letter, the attorney stated that corporate expenditures for “issue ads” were not reportable to the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) or “any other governmental body.” In response, corporations, including CIGNA and CT General, contributed money to TAB in excess of $1.8 million for the “voter education project.” TAB spent these funds to disseminate mailers that specifically addressed candidates for the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate.

TAB also sponsors BACPAC, a voluntary, non-profit unincorporated political committee. TAB did not appoint a campaign treasurer or file reports with the TEC during the 2002 election cycle, but BACPAC did. BACPAC accepted and made campaign contributions in the 2002 general election, disclosing the contributions in reports filed with the TEC.

Litigation Commenced

Appellants brought this suit in 2002 seeking damages under the Election Code based on the “voter education” mailers and alleged services provided by TAB employees to BACPAC. See Tex. Elec. Code §§ 253.131, 254.231.2 Appellants were unsuccessful candidates for the Texas House of Representatives in the 2002 general election.3 Some of the mailers provided information concerning the positions of appellants, their opponents, or both on specific issues.

Appellants contended that TAB violated provisions of the Election Code that apply to corporations and provisions that apply to political committees. Appellants alleged that “TAB constituted a political committee under the election code” by collecting funds and then spending them in support or in opposition to various legislative candidates. See id. § 251.001(12) (defining [523]*523“political committee”)-4 Appellants urged that, as a political committee, TAB accepted illegal political contributions and made illegal political expenditures because it did not have a campaign treasurer as required by chapter 253 of the Election Code and had failed to report in accordance with chapter 254 of the Election Code. See id. §§ 253.004(a) (“A person may not knowingly make or authorize a political expenditure in violation of this chapter”), 253.031(b) (requiring political committee to have campaign treasurer appointment in effect before accepting political contributions or making political expenditures totaling more than $500), 253.037(a) (prohibiting general-purpose committee from making political expenditures or contributions during 60-day period following the filing of campaign treasurer appointment), 254.039 (requiring reporting for certain general-purpose committees), 254.153 (requiring semiannual reporting for general-purpose committees), 254.154 (requiring additional reporting for general-purpose committees involved in election). Based on their contention that TAB was a political committee, appellants also alleged that CIGNA and CT General violated the Election Code by making illegal corporate political contributions. See id. § 253.094(a).5

In the alternative, appellants alleged that TAB as a corporation failed to report in accordance with former section 253.062 of the Election Code. See Act of June 18, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 864, § 244, 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 2742, 2778, repealed by Act of June 17, 2011, 82d Leg., R.S., ch. 1009, § 6(2), 2011 Tex. Gen. Laws 2554, 2556.

Appellants’ claims concerning the alleged services of TAB employees to BAC-PAC were based on TAB’S status as a corporation. Appellants contended that TAB, CIGNA, and CT General made illegal corporate political contributions and that BACPAC illegally accepted corporate political contributions. See Tex. Elec. Code §§ 253.003(b) (“A person may not knowingly accept a political contribution the person knows to have been made in violation of this chapter.”), .094(a) (“A corporation or labor organization may not make a political contribution that is not authorized by this subchapter.”).

As to Hammond, appellants alleged that he “either made or had final approval over all material decisions” regarding TAB’S alleged political expenditures and contributions. Appellants also alleged that appel-lees engaged in a conspiracy to violate the Election Code.6 Appellants sought damages against all of the appellees under section 253.131 and against TAB under section 254.231. See id. §§ 253.131, 254.231.

[524]*524Summary Judgment Motions

Appellees filed traditional motions for summary judgment. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 166a(c). Citing Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310, 130 S.Ct. 876, 175 L.Ed.2d 753 (2010), CIGNA and CT General moved for summary judgment based on their assertions that they gave money to TAB solely to fund the mailers and that the mailers were independent of and not coordinated with any campaign or officeholder and, therefore, protected by the Constitution as independent expenditures. They urged that, after Citizens United, it was undisputed they, as well as TAB, could make these types of direct expenditures on their own and, therefore, that they could combine to do the same thing. They also asserted that they were not subject to chapter 254 of the Election Code, which addresses reporting requirements, and that there was no civil conspiracy liability for committing lawful acts.

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Bluebook (online)
453 S.W.3d 519, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 13641, 2014 WL 7466617, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sylvester-v-texas-assn-of-business-texapp-2014.