Ex Parte J.M. v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: May 23, 2024
• Docket: 02-24-00150-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-24-00150-CV ___________________________

EX PARTE J.M.

On Appeal from the 213th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. D213-E-19509

Before Kerr, Birdwell, and Bassel, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Kerr MEMORANDUM OPINION

On March 6, 2024, the trial court signed a discovery order in Appellant J.M.’s

pending expunction proceeding. J.M. attempts to appeal from that order.

On April 9, 2024, we wrote to J.M. expressing our concern that we lacked

jurisdiction over this appeal because the discovery order did not appear to be a final

judgment or appealable interlocutory order. We warned J.M. that we could dismiss

this appeal for want of jurisdiction unless he or any other party filed a response by

April 19, 2024, showing grounds for continuing the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P.

42.3(a), 44.3. We have received no response.

Our appellate jurisdiction is limited to appeals from final judgments and from

interlocutory orders made appealable by statute. See Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp.,

39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001) (stating that “the general rule, with a few mostly

statutory exceptions, is that an appeal may be taken only from a final judgment”); see

also Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(a) (listing appealable interlocutory

orders). “Discovery orders are interlocutory in nature and therefore not appealable

until after a final judgment is entered.” Edwards v. Panda Express Inc., No. 05-19-00715-

CV, 2019 WL 4027082, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 27, 2019, no pet.) (mem. op.);

see Shanks v. Wair, No. 02-20-00138-CV, 2020 WL 5415225, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort

Worth Sept. 10, 2020, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op.) (explaining that “discovery

orders are generally not immediately appealable” and dismissing appeal from

discovery order for want of jurisdiction because the legislature “has not specified that

2 interlocutory discovery orders are immediately appealable”). Because we have neither

a final judgment nor an appealable interlocutory order here, we dismiss this appeal for

want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).

/s/ Elizabeth Kerr Elizabeth Kerr Justice

Delivered: May 23, 2024