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This information is taken directly from the court opinion. It is not taken out of context nor is it altered.

From John Paul Mitchell v Randalls Food Markets, 17 S.W.3d 721 (TX 2000) In Davis v. HydPro, Inc., 839 S.W.2d 137 (Tex.App.-Eastland 1992, writ denied), the court of appeals reversed a jury verdict awarding damages for tortious interference with contractual relations on similar grounds: A necessary element of the plaintiff's cause of action is a showing that the defendant took an active part in persuading a party to a contract to breach it. Merely entering into a contract with a party with the knowledge of that party's contractual obligations to someone else is not the same as inducing a breach. It is necessary that there be some act of interference or of persuading a party to breach, for example by offering better terms or other incentives, for tort liability to arise. Id. at 139 (internal quotations omitted) (quoting Texaco, Inc. v. Pennzoil Co., 729 S.W.2d 768, 803 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1987, writ ref'd n.r.e ), cert. dism'd, 485 U.S. 994, 108 S.Ct. 1305, 99 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988)); see also Arabesque Studios, Inc. v. Academy of Fine Arts Int'l, Inc., 529 S.W.2d 564, 568 (Tex.Civ.App.-Dallas 1975, no writ) (plaintiff must show that defendant caused interference; it is not enough that defendant reaped advantage of contract broken by breaching party's own volition). Other states have expressed the same need for some evidence of "knowing inducement." In a case involving this same product, a federal court in New York dismissed Paul Mitchell's claim for tortious interference with its distribution contracts: As the defendants point out, the plaintiffs' contention, when stripped of its conjectural allegations ... is that the defendants should be held liable for tortious inducement because they purchased Paul Mitchell Products while knowing that such products would not have been obtainable unless, presumably, someone along the [Paul Mitchell] distribution network had breached his, her or its contract with [Paul Mitchell].... [T]he plaintiff's claim fails to show "inducement" of the alleged breach.