Court Opinion

ID: 9659403
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:43:42.725954+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:07.635041
License: Public Domain

DON BURGESS, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion but would dissolve the injunction on the substantive issue that the activity sought to be enjoined did not constitute a violation of Tex. Labor Code Ann. § 101.152 (Vernon 1996).
On appeal, we review a trial court’s decision to grant or deny a temporary injunction under an abuse of discretion standard. See Butnaru v. Ford Motor Co., 84 S.W.3d 198, 204 (Tex.2002). Under that standard, legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence, although not independent grounds for asserting error, are relevant factors in assessing whether the trial court abused its discretion. See In re Davis, 30 S.W.3d 609, 614 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2000, no pet.).
The mass picketing statute prohibits activity which “constitutes any character of obstacle to the free ingress to and egress from an entrance to any premises.... ” *245Tex. Lab.Code Ann. § 101.152(a) (Vernon 1996). In Sherman v. State, 626 S.W.2d 520, 527-28 (Tex.Crim.App.1981), the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed a conviction for mass picketing under the statute and ordered the defendant acquitted. The court noted the Legislature prohibited similar conduct under section 42.08 of the Penal Code and consequently determined to “give the term ‘obstruction’ the same definition in both statutes.” Sherman, 626 S.W.2d at 526; Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 42.03 (Vernon 2003). Section 42.03(b) defines “obstruct” as “to render impassable or to render passage unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous.” Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 42.03(b) (Vernon 2003). The Sherman court then stated, “[u]nder our view ..., then, what is prohibited is the rendering impassable or the rendering unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous the free ingress or egress to the struck premises.” Sherman, 626 S.W.2d at 526. The court went on to observe:
We believe that this definition comports with the purposes of the Legislature as set forth in the preamble. By requiring that passage be severely restricted or completely blocked before a prosecution under this statute would lie we give ample breathing room for the exercise of First Amendment rights. At the same time, such a definition adequately protects the right of the public to have access to the struck premises.
Id. In Haye v. State, 634 S.W.2d 313, 315 (Tex.Crim.App.1982), the Court of Criminal Appeals acknowledged that in a case such as this, we are required to balance appellants’ First Amendment rights with the right of the public to have access to the struck premises.
The evidence in the record reflects that no obstruction, as defined above, of ingress or egress ever occurred. After viewing the videotapes entered into evidence of the picketing activity, I am convinced that, as a matter of law, the activity does not constitute a violation of section 101.152 of the Labor Code. I am not alone in this view— as the videotapes demonstrate, officers at the scene of the picketing did not arrest anyone for violating the statute. Because I find there is no evidence the picketing constituted an “obstacle,” I would hold the trial court abused its discretion in finding a violation of the statute occurred and granting the temporary injunction.