in Re: Chuan Chen

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 26, 2023
• Docket: 05-22-01246-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order entered January 26, 2023

In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-22-01246-CV

IN RE CHUAN CHEN, Relator

Original Proceeding from the 192nd Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. DC-21-17249

ORDER Before Justices Nowell, Goldstein, and Breedlove

We reinstate this original proceeding to address real parties in interest’s

January 15, 2023 letter regarding this Court’s January 10, 2023 abatement order,

which we construe as a motion for clarification. We GRANT the motion. We

accordingly vacate our January 10, 2023 abatement order and issue the following

order in its place.

In this original proceeding, relator seeks a writ of mandamus compelling the

trial court to vacate orders signed in the 192nd Judicial District of Dallas County,

Texas by the Honorable Kristina Williams, whose term expired on December 31,

2022. Rule 7.2(b) requires this Court to abate this proceeding to allow the

successor judge to reconsider the challenged orders. See TEX. R. APP. P. 7.2(b) (“If

the case is an original proceeding under Rule 52, the court must abate the

proceeding to allow the successor to reconsider the original party’s decision.”).

Accordingly, we ABATE this original proceeding pursuant to Texas Rule of

Appellate Procedure 7.2(b). This case is removed from the Court’s active docket

until further order of this Court to allow the successor judge to reconsider the

following orders of the former judge of 192nd Judicial District: (1) the June 16,

2022 Order Granting Defendants’ Motion to Compel Discovery Responses from

Plaintiff and (2) the November 2, 2022 Order Granting Defendants’ Motion for

Discovery Sanctions and for Contempt of Court Against Plaintiff. We further

ORDER the parties to file a status report with this Court within TEN DAYS of

any ruling by the successor judge required by rule 7.2(b).

/s/ ERIN A. NOWELL JUSTICE