Nearly two years after Fort Worth implemented new rules regulating the operation of short-term rentals, a coalition of short-term rental operators’ lawsuit against the city will come to a head in December.
The lawsuit, which lists 114 plaintiffs, claims that Fort Worth is violating property rights by preventing people from operating short-term rentals.
Both the rental operators, who filed the lawsuit in June 2023, and the city requested summary judgments from the court in October, according to court documents. Motions for summary judgements ask the court to decide the case without going to trial, arguing that there are no genuine disputes about the material facts and that the law favors the requester’s side.
The 236th Judicial District Court will hold a hearing for the case at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building in downtown Fort Worth. The court has allotted two hours for the hearing, according to a Nov. 15 notice.
The plaintiffs, which include various Tarrant-based short-term rental operators and members of the Fort Worth Short Term Rental Alliance, sued the city after City Council members voted unanimously in February 2023 to approve new short-term rental regulations. The lawsuit challenges those regulations, which essentially banned short-term rentals from operating in residential areas and created stricter rules for operation in commercial and mixed-use areas. It also asks the court to block the city from enforcing the ordinance and require the city to pay the plaintiffs’ legal fees.
In July 2023, the city asked the court to dismiss all claims against the city and require the plaintiffs to pay the city’s legal fees. The city hired law firm Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP as legal defense, with a $150,000 contract at the time.
During their Nov. 19 meeting, City Council members voted to triple funding for that contract for a total of $450,000. The funding increase will be allocated from the risk financing fund for the city’s human resources department.
The funding increase was included in the meeting’s consent agenda, where routine city items are voted on with minimal or no discussion. Council members did not comment on the contract increase during the meeting.
The Fort Worth Short Term Rental Alliance said in a statement to the Report on Nov. 18 that the added dollars to the city’s budget for the lawsuit uses “significant taxpayer-funded resources that could be used to drive positive change elsewhere.”
“The city knew this case was coming, thanks to numerous court rulings in favor of short-term rental owners, but chose to flex its power and authority over individual citizens and abuse taxpayer dollars to go against its own citizens,” the alliance said.
The city maintains that the additional $300,000 is needed “to bring these lawsuits to a successful conclusion,” according to a staff report to council members.
“Due to the complex nature of the litigation and the importance to the city and the current caseload of the city attorney’s office, the city desires the law firm of Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP to represent the city in any litigation related to the short-term rental ordinances,” the report states.
The city attorney’s office did not respond to the Report’s request for comment.
In its request for a summary judgment filed Oct. 15, the city states it has the authority to regulate land use “consistently and in a manner that is beneficial — and not harmful — to its residents.” The filing adds that the new regulations were not implemented lightly.
“After three-plus years of study and debate, the City Council concluded that (short-term rentals) corrode the character of residential neighborhoods by undermining those neighborhoods’ community and camaraderie,” the filing states. “But the city also recognized that (short-term rentals) are part of modern-day tourism, so it sought to enact regulations balancing the welfare of its residents with the realities of tourism.”
The plaintiffs’ Oct. 15 request for a summary judgment states that the “right of acquiring and possessing property, and having it protected, is one of the natural, inherent and unalienable rights of man.” One of the most basic expressions of that right, the filing argues, is leasing and earning income, such as through short-term rentals.
“However, cities across Texas now beg to differ, as they have deemed it politically expedient to assert a stranglehold on these natural, inherent and unalienable rights,” the filing states. “Plaintiffs’ continued entitlement to these venerable fee ownership rights in their own property is the subject of this case.”
The Fort Worth Short Term Rental Alliance itself is not a plaintiff in the case, though several of its members are. The alliance said it is hopeful the court will “reach a decision that is in favor of property rights, as many courts all over the country have already done.”
The city of Dallas is also facing litigation over short-term rental regulations approved by Dallas City Council in June 2023. The regulations would wipe out about 50% of registered short-term rentals in the city, according to The Dallas Morning News. A group of Dallas short-term rental operators sued the city in October 2023, arguing that the regulations are unconstitutional and violate property owners’ rights.
The Dallas ban was set to take effect in December 2023, but a judge sided with rental operators and granted a temporary injunction that placed the regulations on hold. An appellate court panel in Dallas heard arguments Nov. 13 to decide if the injunction needs to be lifted, according to the Morning News.
When Fort Worth council members approved the short-term rental regulations in February 2023, Mayor Mattie Parker said short-term rentals are an “evolving issue” in Texas and around the country.
“We’re not done listening,” she said at the time.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
