City of Houston v. Lorna Woods, Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Cyril Woods

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: October 28, 2025
• Docket: 01-25-00638-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued October 28, 2025

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-25-00638-CV ——————————— CITY OF HOUSTON, Appellant V. LORNA WOODS, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF CYRIL WOODS, Appellees

On Appeal from the 151st District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2025-37624

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellees sued the City of Houston in tort. The City then moved for summary judgment

claiming immunity—which the trial court denied. The City appealed and invoked the automatic

1 stay in Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 51.014(b), which stays all trial court proceedings

here pending resolution of this appeal.

Appellees subsequently filed notices of nonsuit in both the trial court and this Court. They

argue that their nonsuit moots this appeal. See Univ. of Texas Med. Branch at Galveston v. Est. of

Blackmon ex rel. Shultz, 195 S.W.3d 98, 100 (Tex. 2006) (per curiam). We agree.

As our supreme court has explained, “neither a statutory stay of trial court proceedings nor

any other statute could vest this Court or any other with authority to decide moot cases in violation

of the constitutional limitations on our jurisdiction. However it is achieved procedurally, the

plaintiffs’ total abandonment of their claims for relief ‘extinguishes’ jurisdiction.” Morath v.

Lewis, 601 S.W.3d 785, 788 (Tex. 2020) (citing Estate of Blackmon, 195 S.W.3d at 100).

We therefore dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction and dismiss all other pending

motions as moot.

PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams and Justices Morgan and Dokupil.