July 26, 2011 4:41PM # Texas Court Rules For Eminent-Domain Critic By [Walter Olson](https://www.cato.org/people/walter-olson) --- SHARE Good news from Texas, where a state appeals court has handed a major win to investigative journalist Carla Main, whose book *[Bulldozed: ‘Kelo,’ Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land](http://www.amazon.com/Bulldozed-Kelo-Eminent-Domain-American/dp/1594031932)* took a critical look at the seizure of private land under eminent domain laws for purposes of urban redevelopment. Dallas developer H. Walker Royall didn’t like what Main wrote about his involvement in a Freeport, Texas marina project and proceeded to sue her, publisher Encounter Books (which I should note is also my own publisher on *Schools for Misrule*), and even liberty-minded law professor Richard Epstein over a [dust jacket blurb](http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/blurbing-of-books-possibly-safe-again/) Epstein had given for the book. (Earlier coverage of the suit [here](http://http//overlawyered.com/2010/09/developer-vs-critic-of-eminent-domain-contd/) and [here](https://www.cato.org/frivolous-lawsuit-aimed-at-silencing-critics-of-eminent-domain-abuse/).) A trial court had declined to dismiss Royall’s claims on summary judgment, but yesterday Judge Elizabeth Lang-Miers reversed in substantial part, ruling that Royall had failed to make the requisite showing that key passages in *Bulldozed* had in fact defamed him. The case is not yet over, but Institute for Justice senior attorney Dana Berliner, who argued for the defense, [is understandably jubilant](http://www.ij.org/about/3936): “Walker Royall has failed in his attempt to use this frivolous defamation lawsuit as a weapon to silence his critics,” she said. Moreover, outrage at Royall’s suit [contributed](http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/texas-considers-strong-measures-against-lawsuits-intimidating-speech/) to Texas’s [enactment this summer](http://ipandentertainmentlaw.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/texas-anti-slapp-bill-becomes-law/) (joining 26 other states) of strong “anti-SLAPP” legislation aimed at curbing lawsuits intimidating speech. You can read the opinion here, and early coverage at [Gideon Kanner’s blog](http://gideonstrumpet.info/?p=1568), the *[Dallas Observer](http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2011/07/a_great_day_for_the_first_amen.php)* and *[D Magazine](http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2011/07/26/appeals-court-affirms-first-amendment-slaps-down-hiram-walker-royall/)*. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).