Oil tycoon Kelcy Warren sues Beto O'Rourke alleging defamation over power grid criticism

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Source: Texas tribune

Kelcy Warren, the Dallas pipeline tycoon and top donor to Gov. Greg Abbott, is suing Abbott's Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, over his criticism of the windfall profits that Warren’s company made after the 2021 winter storm.

During a news conference in Dallas, O’Rourke said Warren is alleging defamation and trying to “use his billions of dollars to try to shut me down and shut us up from telling the story of what happened to the people of Texas.”

“We are not backing down,” O’Rourke said, calling the lawsuit “frivolous.”

Warren filed the lawsuit last month in state district court in San Saba County, accusing O’Rourke of a “relentless and malicious attack” on him. The lawsuit alleges defamation, slander and libel, and it seeks over $1 million in damages.

Abbott’s campaign distanced itself from the lawsuit, saying it “is in no way involved.” A lawyer for Warren did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/07/beto-orourke-kelcy-warren-texas-power-grid/

[ificandream]

1. LOL. "Frivolous" is the word.

[TheBlackAdder]

19. S.L.A.P.P. - I heard that in New Jersey.

.

Anti-SLAPP Law in Texas
Note: This page covers information specific to Texas. For general information concerning Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), see the overview section of this guide.

The Texas Citizens Participation Act, H.B. No. 2973, allows you to counter a SLAPP suit against you based on your statements in exercise of your right of free speech, petition, or association. The statute provides for a special motion to dismiss, and allows (with some exceptions) for a stay of discovery proceedings while your motion is being considered. If your motion to dismiss is successful, the court will award you attorneys' fees, court costs, and possibly punitive damages against the party that filed the lawsuit.

The statute allows for dismissal of suits based on any type of communication, in any medium, that is: related to a "matter of public concern"; or pertaining to or in connection with any governmental proceeding or issue being considered by any governmental branch; or between individuals “who join together to collectively express, promote, pursue, or defend common interests."

https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/anti-slapp-law-texas

.

[TexasTowelie]

2. It isn't defamation, libel, or slander when the truth is told.

Mr. Warren will get very uncomfortable if his finances are examined closely.

[leftieNanner]

5. Discovery!

Bring it on!

[Bayard]

3. Crying about getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar

[Bev54]

4. WTF? US really needs to get these stupid lawsuits under control

Everybody and his dog sues, it is a mindset like the right to own guns. To the rest of the world it is ridiculous.

[Mawspam2]

6. This lawsuit will only keep Abbott's kleptocracy...

...and incompetence the spotlight through election day. Thank you, Kelly Warren.

[Beartracks]

10. True dat!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

23. I suspect that Abbott is going to be deposed in this case

Link to tweet

[Javaman]

7. A slap suit to tie up Beto during his campaign.nt

[Beartracks]

9. Slap suit is what I thought, too. But it may serve to keep Abbott's cronies and incompetence...

... in the news during the campaign.

=========

[Docreed2003]

8. How DARE you expose the truth of how we made record profits on the back of Texans!

[GB_RN]

11. He Has To Show Harm, Too.

How exactly, has this assclown been harmed? He’s got megabucks?

Sounds to me like this is just an attempt to shut down Beto’s campaign through legal expenses and time.

[getagrip_already]

12. don't these people have lawyers?

Discovery and deposition will not be kind to this man.

Of course, it will never get that far. This was a lame attempt to muddy the waaters and give the qop a chance to point fingers. They will withdraw it before discovery; just like tfg used to do.

[dalton99a]

13. Proceed, asshole

[Evolve Dammit]

14. Go Beto! Call them out.

[Fullduplexxx]

15. It's too close to an election

[rpannier]

18. Which is why after the GE in Nvember we'll never hear about this again

They'll drop the suit, like republikkans dropped that caravans of "illegal aliens" and such once the election was over

[Ford_Prefect]

16. Welcome to the Amateur Hour...

[rpannier]

17. Abbott's campaign distanced itself from the lawsuit, saying it "is in no way involved."

What they meant was "is in no way directly involved."
Indirectly? That's another story entirely

[turbinetree]

20. How many people died in Texas based on greed and that grid system.....maybe the families should

sue him and Abbott.......because they sure as hell didn't there monies worth.....

[LetMyPeopleVote]

22. I have seen estimates as high as 700

This is going to be a big issue for Beto who has created the term Abbotttax to discuss the higher energy bills we are now paying. My power bills are $50 to $70 higher each month due to the higher price that Energy Transfer nd other got to charge during the frees.

[turbinetree]

37. My propane costs have jumped from $2.46 a gallon to $3.99 a gallon here in the Northeast

I just can not imagine not having power to heat my home, so I am thinking of going solar

[NickB79]

39. Good God. It was "only" $2.40 here in Minnesota a few weeks ago

And that was a jump from $1.75 in September, which pissed me off.

I replaced our ancient A/C a few years ago with a Carrier air source heat pump to reduce propane use in spring and fall. So far so good.

[turbinetree]

40. My mistake it jumped to $3.39 from $2.56 and I live in Maryland use to live in the Minnesota

and had the wood burning fire place and those great saunas......best thing in the world was those sauna nights....and then going out into the snow bank.......
Should have put a heat pump in when I got a new heater but I did not and the furnace guy said that if I want one let him know, think I will and I still plan to go solar...looking after the new electric Maverick truck.... give me some peppermint schnaps a show slow doing with the sled .....just don't eat the yellow show,,,,.Frank Zppaa was the man..... ....with the wind shear at around -55 degree out on then Balsam Lake spearing for walleye on the reservations.... and enjoying the schnaps....

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. Texas Is Still Not Recognizing The Full Death Toll Of Last Year's Devastating Winter Storm

This is from an email that I got today from the Lone Star Project

While Texans were freezing and hundreds dying during Winter Storm Uri, Governor Greg Abbott directed power prices to stay at the maximum possible rate for several days, recent court proceedings revealed.

Abbott’s order led to billions in profits for natural gas companies and billions in higher energy bills for everyday Texans. The fallout means that most Texans will be paying an average of $45 more per month for decades to come.

The Denial
The shocking revelation — that it was Abbott himself who ordered the higher power prices — raises even more questions about the circumstances that led to him receiving millions of dollars in contributions from the natural gas industry just a few months after Texans experienced nearly $293 billion in damages and more than 750 deaths.

Abbott denied being “involved in any way” in the decision to keep prices at the maximum but then refused to release emails and text messages related to communications that occurred during the storm.

]
Here is the article cited https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/texas-winter-storm-death-toll

On New Year’s Eve, with few people watching, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that 246 people died in the February 2021 winter storm that took down much of the state’s power grid. The new figure is 36 higher than the state’s previous count but is still almost certainly wrong.

According to an analysis of “excess deaths” in the week of the power outages by BuzzFeed News, the true number is likely more than 750.

“Independent reports suggest this is a gross undercount and that over 700 died,” tweeted Beto O’Rourke on Tuesday in a reference to our investigation. O’Rourke is a former Democratic member of Congress from El Paso who is now running to be Texas governor.

[turbinetree]

38. For the life of me, I just cannot understand how someone can sleep at night

and then look in the mirror brush their teeth like nothing happened ....the next morning with heat on in the governors home....singing

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh, my, what a wonderful day


going thru his head.....

[NotHardly]

21. Oh, thank goodness & here I thought some Republicans were smart... LOL

Bring it beatch.

[mahina]

24. They are afraid and trying to divert his energy, and frame him.

May it bite them hard.

[Cheezoholic]

25. Hey Kelcy

Go Fuck Yourself

[BlueWavePsych]

26. Kick

[OldBaldy1701E]

27. There is a simple way to handle this.

Everyone on social media, and on the air should be saying the exact same thing. Go to your public cable channel. Write to the editorial pages of the newspaper. I mean any and every person who can should do this. See what happens. If he sues them all, he is an egotistical idiot who will find out what 'discovery' really means. If he does not... political maneuvering in support of his candidate anyone?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

28. This video will piss off Kelcy

Link to tweet

[oasis]

29. Warren will see what happens after you get "a tiger by the tail". nt

[JudyM]

30. K&R

[LetMyPeopleVote]

31. Gov. Abbott mega-donor Kelcy Warren sues Democrat Beto O'Rourke for defamation

From the Houston paper

Link to tweet

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Gov-Abbott-mega-donor-Kelcy-Warren-sues-Democrat-16984193.php

The chairman of the board of directors of one of the nation’s biggest pipeline companies, who is also a major donor to Gov. Greg Abbott, is suing Democrat Beto O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel for criticizing his company’s actions in the 2021 Texas winter storm and referring to his subsequent $1 million donation to Abbott as “pretty close to a bribe.”

Kelcy Warren, chairman of the board at the gas pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners, filed suit against O’Rourke in San Saba County seeking more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleges that O’Rourke is trying to “publicly humiliate Warren and discourage others from contributing to Gov. Abbott’s campaign.”.....

Warren’s attorneys include other O’Rourke statements in the lawsuit, along with videos of him recounting stories of Texans who died during the storm while giant companies made profits.

Link to tweet

.....The grid failures are a key issue for O’Rourke as he tries to make the case that Abbott should be fired as the leader of state government. In campaign ads and speeches, O’Rourke has faulted Abbott for not acting sooner to protect the grid despite years of warnings. And he’s blasted Abbott for not doing enough to make sure last year’s crisis is not repeated.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

32. Here is a link to the pleadings in this lawsuit-kelcy is represented by lawyer for TFG and Russian

Link to tweet

Here is an interesting article on this law firm https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trumps-lawyer-in-russia-probe-has-clients-with-kremlin-ties/2017/06/09/5dba9518-4d4a-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html

The hard-charging New York lawyer President Trump chose to represent him in the Russia investigation has prominent clients with ties to the Kremlin, a striking pick for a president trying to escape the persistent cloud that has trailed his administration.

Marc E. Kasowitz’s clients include Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who is close to President Vladimir Putin and has done business with Trump’s former campaign manager. Kasowitz also represents Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank, U.S. court records show.

Kasowitz has represented one of Deripaska’s companies for years in a civil lawsuit in New York and was scheduled to argue on the company’s behalf May 25, two days after news broke that Trump had hired him, court records show. A different lawyer in Kasowitz’s firm showed up in court instead, avoiding a scenario that would have highlighted Kasowitz’s extensive work for high-profile Russian clients

.

[IcyPeas]

34. have there always been so many lawsuits ??

or are they all following the former guys m.o.? sue! sue! sue!

[Hekate]

35. Good luck to Texas and good luck to Beto in particular

Thanks for keeping us posted, LMPV

[TexasBushwhacker]

36. Interesting - Warren lives in East Texas. San Saba County is

a sparsely populated county in Central Texas. Judge shopping?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

41. A Billionaire Is Suing Beto, What Comes Next?

This lawsuit is really sad. The lawyer who filed this lawsuit is the Kasowitz firm that is not known for First Amendment issues but is known for representing TFG and Russian Oligarch. The Houston office of this firm is mainly employment litigators

To win this lawsuit, Kelcy needs to prove that Beto made a statement of fact that Beto knew was false. The complained statements are statement of opinions, and you can sue for this

Link to tweet

On Monday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke made headlines when he announced at a campaign event that a billionaire was going to file a lawsuit against him. Sure enough, a defamation lawsuit against O’Rourke was filed in San Saba County later that day.

The man bringing the lawsuit against O’Rourke is Kelcy Warren, the co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of Directors at Energy Transfer Partners, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. His lawsuit is seeking damages against O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel.....

“There have to be very clear misstatements of fact, if there are merely opinions, generally speaking, they are not going to be actionable as defamation,” said Shavin. The standard of the law applies even further to a public official, according to Shavin. “It’s not enough just to prove it’s false or defamatory, it’s got to be proven that it was made with actual malice.”....

Shavin pointed to a Texas case to describe the very high bar for meeting defamation: Carr v. Brasher. In that case, the Texas Supreme Court denied rehearing a case from Lynn Brasher, the former mayor of South Houston, against his election opponent (and new mayor) Al Thiel and Walter Carr, a campaign aide who authored campaign brochures. Brasher alleged that Carr committed libel for some of those campaign brochures for an election in 1985. Some of the allegations raised in those brochures included “payoffs” Brasher made to bookkeepers. The defense for Thiel and Carr rested on the absence of “malice” in the accusation.

This lawsuit will be fun to watch

[LetMyPeopleVote]

42. Beto denies Kelcy Warren's defamation allegations and moves to change venue to El Paso County

Chadd Dunn is a great attorney who won the Texas voter id case a while back.

Link to tweet

[Brainfodder]

43. Courts are a joke in this country when you can just to$$?

Delay delay delay