In Re De Leon Aircraft Maintenance Professional and Christopher De Leon, Individually v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 31, 2024
Docket13-24-00262-CV
StatusPublished

This text of In Re De Leon Aircraft Maintenance Professional and Christopher De Leon, Individually v. the State of Texas (In Re De Leon Aircraft Maintenance Professional and Christopher De Leon, Individually v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re De Leon Aircraft Maintenance Professional and Christopher De Leon, Individually v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

NUMBER 13-24-00215-CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

DE LEON AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONAL AND CHRISTOPHER DE LEON, INDIVIDUALLY, Appellants,

v.

LUIS GUTIERREZ AND SERGIO GUTIERREZ, Appellees.

ON APPEAL FROM THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 9 OF HIDALGO COUNTY, TEXAS NUMBER 13-24-00262-CV

IN RE DE LEON AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONAL AND CHRISTOPHER DE LEON, INDIVIDUALLY

ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Longoria and Peña Memorandum Opinion by Justice Peña1

1 See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.8(d) (“When denying relief, the court may hand down an opinion but is not

required to do so. When granting relief, the court must hand down an opinion as in any other case.”); id. R. 47.4 (distinguishing opinions and memorandum opinions).

2 Appellants De Leon Aircraft Maintenance Professional and Christopher De Leon

individually have filed a notice of appeal regarding an April 29, 2024 “Temporary Order

and Temporary Injunction” in our appellate cause number 13-24-00215-CV. By separate

petition for writ of mandamus filed in our appellate cause number 13-24-00262-CV, these

appellants/relators seek to set aside that same order, as well as a previously rendered

November 24, 2020 “Temporary Order and Temporary Injunction.” In the interests of

judicial efficiency and economy, we address both the appeal and the petition for writ of

mandamus in this single memorandum opinion. In the appeal, we reverse the April 29,

2024 order as void and remand the case for further proceedings. In the original

proceeding, we conclude that the November 24, 2020 order expired by its own terms, or

was otherwise superseded and implicitly vacated by the April 29, 2024 order. We dismiss

the petition for writ of mandamus as moot.

I. BACKGROUND

On October 15, 2019, appellees/real parties in interest Luis Gutierrez and Sergio

Gutierrez filed an “Original Petition and Request for Temporary Injunction” against

appellants. Appellees alleged that they hired appellants to perform repairs on appellees’

Cessna aircraft but appellants neither performed the repairs nor returned the aircraft to

appellees. According to their petition, appellees paid appellants an initial deposit of

$6,500 and also paid appellants in excess of $15,000 for the repairs over the course of

the following year. According to appellees’ petition, appellants failed to complete the

repairs to the aircraft and stopped responding to appellees’ requests for information

regarding the repairs. Appellees brought causes of action against appellants for deceptive

3 trade practices, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, unjust enrichment,

and conversion. Appellees further sought a temporary injunction allowing them access to

appellants’ hangar so that they could ascertain the status and condition of the aircraft and

further requiring appellants to deliver the aircraft to them, or alternatively, allowing them

to retrieve the aircraft.

On November 3, 2020, the trial court signed an “Ex-Parte Temporary Restraining

Order and Order Setting Hearing for Temporary Orders, Temporary Injunction.” In

relevant part, this order stated that appellees were entitled to relief “as a result of

immediate and irreparable injury, loss and/or damage that will result” before an adversary

hearing could be held. The order restrained appellants from auctioning, selling,

encumbering, hiding, or foreclosing on the aircraft, set a $100 bond, and scheduled a

hearing for the temporary injunction to be held on November 17, 2020. The order stated

that it “shall continue in force and effect until further order of this Court or until it expires

by operation of law.”

On November 24, 2020, the trial court issued a “Temporary Order and Temporary

Injunction.” In relevant part, this order stated that appellees were entitled to relief “as a

result of immediate and irreparable injury, loss and/or damage that will result” if relief was

not granted. This order, like the earlier order, restrained appellants from auctioning,

selling, encumbering, hiding, or foreclosing on the aircraft. The order stated that the bond

had already been satisfied and set the matter for a telephonic docket control conference

to be held on December 15, 2020. This order also provided that it “shall continue in force

and effect until further order of this Court or until it expires by operation of law.”

4 On January 12, 2021, appellants filed a first amended answer and counterclaim

against appellees. Appellants alleged that appellees had not paid the amount due for the

aircraft’s repairs and filed causes of action against appellees for breach of contract,

promissory estoppel, quantum meruit, and fraud. In a separate pleading filed that same

day, appellants sought a declaration that the temporary order and injunction were void.

After further proceedings in the case, on April 11, 2024, appellees filed an

“Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Temporary Injunction.” This

pleading states that the trial court “had previously denied a Motion for Temporary

Injunction,” and on appellees’ motion for reconsideration of that ruling, “ordered only that

the aircraft remain with [appellants] but that [they] not be allowed to sell, convey, or

auction said aircraft.” 2 Appellees alleged that they had discovered matters which

indicated that appellants were attempting to sell the aircraft and they thus requested that

appellants “be ordered to show cause as to why [they have] violated the current temporary

injunction.”

On April 17, 2024, the trial court held a non-evidentiary hearing on appellees’

request for relief. Appellants did not make an appearance at the hearing. At the conclusion

of the hearing, the trial court stated that it was “granting the relief as requested” and asked

counsel for appellees to provide it with an appropriate order.

On April 18, 2024, appellants filed a verified motion to reconsider the trial court’s

oral ruling. Appellants asserted that they missed the April 17, 2024 hearing “due to an

2 This pleading and ruling are not clearly reflected in the record currently before the Court. Their

absence is not germane to our analysis or disposition of the appeal or mandamus.

5 inadvertent docketing error.”

On April 29, 2024, the trial court signed a “Temporary Order and Temporary

Injunction.” This order states that appellees were entitled to relief “as a result of immediate

and irreparable injury, loss and/or damage that will result to [them] if said order isn’t

granted.” The order required appellants to return the aircraft to appellees pending the

ultimate resolution of the case and prevented both appellants and appellees from selling

the aircraft. This order, like the earlier orders, restrained appellants from auctioning,

selling, encumbering, hiding, or foreclosing on the aircraft. This order also provided that

it “shall continue in force and effect until further order of this Court.” The order states that

the bond had already been satisfied but does not set a further hearing date or trial date.

On April 29, 2024, appellants filed a notice of appeal in our cause number 13-24-

00215-CV. In the appeal, appellants assert by three issues that (1) the order issued on

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