A ruling Wednesday by Austin’s Third Court of Appeals finding that an anti-SLAPP law applied to an attorney ethics case will open the flood gates for lawyers looking dismiss disciplinary charges against them, one justice warned in a concurring opinion.

The majority opinion by the Texas appellate court reinstated the attorney discipline case against Omar Rosales, but not before making a significant finding: that a defendant in an attorney ethics case could rely on anti-SLAPP legislation, which allows early dismissal in First Amendment cases.