HOOD COUNTY EXPRESS | HCE INSIDER

🎙️ HCE Insider: The Grable Interview, Uncut

Recorded right after the Oct. 29 federal hearing and before the judge ruled, attorney Brandon J. Grable explains why his client's sign case moved so fast. Later that day, the court granted the temporary restraining order.

📅 October 30th, 2026AD

By Hood County Express

FORT WORTH — Right after the federal hearing in Krottinger v. City of Granbury on Thursday, Hood County Express sat down with Brandon J. Grable, the attorney for plaintiff Kolton Krottinger. The judge had not ruled yet. This is what the lawyer said while the outcome was still unknown.

The full audio interview runs about four minutes and is the video in this post. It was edited for flow only: filler words, false starts and long pauses were removed, and no wording was changed. The City of Granbury's attorneys were not part of the interview.

WHY THE CASE MOVED SO FAST

Grable said the lawsuit claims the City of Granbury violated First Amendment rights by overreaching "what the ordinance actually says, what state law actually says," in its enforcement against signs on private property. The emergency request, Grable said, was timed to the election: "we are in the time of election season that ends on Tuesday."

Such cases can take years, he said, and "the election's over, and then they could say, 'Well, there's no injury.'" The goal, in his words, was a ruling now, to protect political speech in this election and in future ones.

"People should not be afraid or concerned that if they post political messages on private property, that somebody's gonna come after them," Grable said.

WHAT HE SAID ABOUT THE CITY'S DEFENSE

Grable said attorneys hired through the City's risk pool told the court they had not had time to review everything and relied on what the city manager told them. He said he emailed the council, city manager and mayor after what he called the Oct. 19 incident and got no response, and sent more filings during the case.

Grable said he expected the City to argue it was simply enforcing an ordinance. "They brought up today that it was a sticker issue, but they couldn't explain exactly what sticker was required under what law," he said.

Those are Grable's characterizations of what happened in the courtroom. HCE did not hear from the City's attorneys for this interview.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE INTERVIEW

Later that day, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor granted the temporary restraining order, according to the written order filed Oct. 29 (ECF 14). The order bars the City from removing five signs and a banner on private property or issuing citations over them while it is in effect. Proceedings in Granbury Municipal Court are not affected.

The order is temporary and expires at 11:59 p.m. Nov. 12. A hearing on whether to continue it through the lawsuit is set for Nov. 9 at 9 a.m. in Fort Worth, with early voting underway and the election Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The City of Granbury said in a News Flash that it "respects the judicial process and will comply with the Court's order." It also called the ruling "temporary, not a final judgment in the lawsuit."

WHAT GRABLE SAID COMES NEXT

Grable said that once a restraining order is in place, the next step is a preliminary injunction, which "essentially keeps the TRO in place throughout the course of the lawsuit." After that, he said, the underlying First Amendment claim would seek a permanent injunction, "but that'll be after discovery, trial, et cetera."

HCE will update this story as the case moves forward.

Sources: HCE interview with Brandon J. Grable, recorded Oct. 29, 2026, after the hearing; court order (ECF 14), Krottinger v. City of Granbury, No. 4:26-CV-01369-O (N.D. Tex.); City of Granbury News Flash, Oct. 29, 2026.

Illustration in the video: AI-generated background art, not actual footage.

Hood County Express — Est'd 1/26 🚂

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