Is the dearth of a Chick-fil-A restaurant on the San Antonio Worldwide Airport a concrete, particularized damage adequate to grant would-be clients standing to sue? We have no idea but, however Texas courts could need to grapple with that query.
In 2019, the San Antonio Metropolis Council was tasked with approving an settlement permitting a concessionaire to contract with numerous distributors, together with Chick-fil-A, who would function on the San Antonio Worldwide Airport. Some council members voiced their opposition to having a Chick-fil-A on the airport, arguing that the corporate’s historical past of funding anti-LGBTQ organizations made many individuals understand the fast-food chain as an emblem of hate. Following debate, the Metropolis Council accredited the contract with an modification to ban Chick-fil-A from the airport.
In response, the Texas legislature handed Senate Invoice 1978, also referred to as the “Save Chick-fil-A Legislation.” The statute (§ 2400.002 within the Texas Authorities Code) bans authorities entities from taking “any opposed motion in opposition to any individual primarily based wholly or partly on the individual’s membership in, affiliation with, or contribution, donation, or different help offered to a non secular group.”
The regulation’s definition of “opposed motion” consists of denying “any grant, contract, subcontract, cooperative settlement, mortgage, scholarship, license, registration, accreditation, employment, or different related standing from or to an individual.”
Would-be Chick-fil-A clients who frequented the airport filed a criticism in opposition to the Metropolis of San Antonio searching for declaratory and injunctive reduction on the assertion that town was violating § 2400.002. The district courtroom denied town’s plea to the jurisdiction, which argued governmental immunity and lack of standing. The courtroom of appeals reversed and dismissed the case with out giving the plaintiffs a possibility to replead. The state supreme courtroom reversed the courtroom of appeals’ judgment and remanded to permit plaintiffs a possibility to replead.
The Query of Immunity
“Sovereign immunity” is a authorized principle that forestalls federal and state governments from being sued except the legislature waives such immunity. In flip, “governmental immunity” refers back to the identical idea utilized to state subdivisions, reminiscent of counties and cities.
§ 2400.002 explicitly waives governmental immunity when an individual alleges a violation of the part of the statute prohibiting authorities entities from taking ¨any opposed motion in opposition to any individual primarily based wholly or partly on the individual’s membership in, affiliation with, or contribution, donation, or different help offered to a non secular group.¨ The Texas Supreme Court docket discovered that the plaintiffs didn’t meet this pleading commonplace.
The town’s choice to not permit Chick-fil-A got here earlier than the Texas legislature handed the regulation. In actual fact, the regulation was a response to town’s choice. Regardless that the plaintiffs alleged that town’s violation of the statute was persevering with in nature, they described no motion apart from implementing the amended concession settlement that violated the statute after it took impact.
The dearth of allegations of post-law violations was not deadly, nonetheless, and the state supreme courtroom granted the plaintiffs a possibility to revise their pleadings.
Is There a Proper to Chick-fil-A?
Sadly, remanding the case for repleading made it pointless for the Texas Supreme Court docket to handle the problem of whether or not the would-be Chick-fil-A clients had standing to file go well with in opposition to San Antonio for its choice to not let the restaurant function on the airport. Thus, we don’t but know whether or not “the denial of a most well-liked consuming possibility on the airport” is a concrete, particularized damage. Provided that the plaintiffs can plead that town’s alleged violation of the statute is continuous in nature could we get to this fascinating query.
