Morrison Foerster Secures Significant Appellate Victory for Farmland Partners

Morrison Foerster secured another significant appellate victory for Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE: FPI), a Denver-based real estate investment trust focused on farmland, in its litigation against Texas hedge fund Sabrepoint Capital Partners, L.P. and related defendants (collectively, “Sabrepoint”).

On October 15, 2026, following remand from the Supreme Court of Texas, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas reversed the trial court’s dismissal of five of FPI’s claims under the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA), Texas’s anti-SLAPP law. The reinstated claims are defamation, business disparagement, civil conspiracy, tortious interference with prospective business relations, and violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. The decision marks Morrison Foerster’s fourth appellate victory for FPI in related litigation, following earlier wins before the Tenth Circuit, the Texas Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Texas.

The dispute stems from a July 2018 article published on the financial website Seeking Alpha that alleged FPI faced a significant risk of insolvency. FPI alleged that Sabrepoint, which stood to profit from a decline in FPI’s stock price, helped develop and spread the article. The appellate court found that FPI presented “extensive details and specific fact allegations” to overcome dismissal at the pleading stage, including evidence that Sabrepoint helped develop and disseminate materially inaccurate statements despite “serious doubts about their truth.” The ruling allows FPI to move forward with its core claims and pursue accountability for the alleged misconduct.

The Morrison Foerster team included Michael D. Birnbaum, Scott F. Llewellyn, Alexis Julien, and Wanqian Zhang.