A Houston judge has ordered two litigants to pay $118,615 in costs and attorney fees to the other side, after finding that a motion to dismiss they filed under the Texas Citizens Participation Act was “frivolous” and “solely intended to delay.”

Judge Rabeea Sultan Collier of the 113th District in Harris County on Tuesday ordered litigants Patriot Contracting and Stephen J. Friedman to jointly and severally pay the money to Mid-Main Properties to compensate its attorneys for responding to the TCPA motion in the Harris County lawsuit, Patriot Contracting v. HERC Solutions USA.