Texas Supreme Court to Review Houston Astros-Sale Case

The Texas Supreme Court has granted review of a case challenging the $600 million-plus sale of the Houston Astros baseball team and the fledgling sports network created to broadcast its games.Houston Baseball Partners, led by now-Astros owner Jim Crane, sued McLane Champions, which owned the Astros when Crane brought the team in 2011; R. Drayton McLane Jr., Champions principal shareholder; Comcast Corp. and NBCUniversal Media for fraud, fraud by nondisclosure, negligent misrepresentation and conspiracy.In essence Crane’s partnership says it was deceived to pay too much to buy the team and its share of the cable network. Before the sale, Houston Baseball Partners assigned its rights to a holding company, HBP Holdings.The trial court denied McLane’s effort to dismiss the suit. Houston’s 14th Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s order denying the McLane and the other defendants’ dismissal motion based on its conclusions that (1) Houston Baseball Partners has standing and (2) the partnership produced clear and specific evidence for each essential element of its claims, required by the Texas Citizens Participation Act. The McLane defendants moved to dismiss under the act.In its petition to the Supreme Court, McLane raises objections to Houston Baseball Partners’ standing to sue because of…