Chris Perez (L) has lost his appeal to dismiss a breach of contract lawsuit filed by his former... [+]
Following two years of legal maneuvering to get the case thrown out of court, Selena's widower, Chris Perez, has lost an appeal to dismiss a lawsuit filed by his former father-in-law Abraham Quintanilla, Jr. that would prevent him from doing a television series about his romance with the late Tejano singer, based on the book "To Selena With Love."
Selena's father filed the lawsuit on December 2, 2016 against Perez, his company Blue Mariachi Productions and Endemol Shine North America. In it, he alleges Perez, who was married to Selena for three years until her death in 1995, violated an estate agreement that gives Quintanilla the exclusive rights to Selena’s name, voice, photographs, her story and other rights in perpetuity.
According to Quintanilla's attorneys, that means Perez breached the contract by writing an unauthorized book about his romance with Selena and signing a deal with Endemol Shine North America to produce a television series for profit, ignoring the terms of the 1995 agreement, in which he gets a cut of the proceeds from "the exploitation of the Entertainment Properties.” Perez has argued he signed that contract under duress, just months after the singer's death.
He filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in January 2017, but a judge rejected it a month later, prompting Perez to file an appeal. But he didn't get the result he was looking for.
Texas judge Judge Nora L. Longoria affirmed the lower court's decision from February 2017 that rejected Perez's motion to dismiss Quintanilla's lawsuit against him. She also ruled Perez would have to pay Quintanilla's legal costs for the appeal.
Her judgement was filed on Thursday, November 29 in the Thirteenth Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi - 22 months after Perez appealed the trial's court decision denying his motion to dismiss the case.
In his appeal, the musician argued that the lower court "erred" in denying his motion to dismiss because it did not establish the applicability of the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA, also known as the Texas Anti-SLAPP statute, which protects a person's right to free speech) and that Quintanilla "did not provide clear and specific evidence" for his claims.
Since the courts did not acknowledge grounds to apply the TCPA, which makes the losing party pay for court and attorney fees, Perez is on the hook to pay all those legal expenses for himself and his former father-in-law.
An attorney for Quintanilla would not disclose the amount for those fees, but given the amount of legal work done so far by both parties, it will likely be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"We won in the lower court, overcoming their anti-SLAPP motion, and now our case has been held up by an appeals court," says Quintanilla estate attorney Simran A. Singh. "I'm very pleased with the judgement and looking forward to proceeding with our claims."
With the appeal over and barring any other legal actions, the case against Perez can move forward.
"Chris’s team is examining the decision handed down by the Appeals Court... and over the course of the next several days will be considering all of its options," states Perez attorney Eric S. Medina. "We remain confident that justice will be done in this matter."
