J. Patrick Sutton Cases & Issues Blog

Texas Supreme Court lets Grapevine STR owners' win stand

On June 16, 2023, the Texas Supreme Court declined the City of Grapevine's request to ban short-term rentals, upholding my clients' claims and continued temporary injunction barring enforcement of a short-term rental ban.

At the end of 2021, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals held in a case brought by my homeowner clients (
City of Grapevine v. Muns, 651 S.W.3d 317 (Tex. App. - Fort Worth 2021)) that the homeowners fighting the city's ban on short-term rentals stated valid constitutional challenges. The City of Grapevine asked the Texas Supreme Court to step in and reverse, but the Court declined to do so. The Fort Worth Court of Appeals' decision stands.

What happens now is that the case goes to final trial before the Tarrant County District Court. With it having been established that homeowners fighting city bans on STR's state valid claims under the Texas Constitution, all that remains is for the trial court to determine whether such claims should succeed on my clients' facts.

When the Texas Supreme Court declined to reverse the Fort Worth Court of Appeals' decision, two justices on the Supreme Court
went out of their way to invite a cleaner, final case to be presented for review and decision.
J. Patrick Sutton Cases & Issues Blog