In Re Fracht FWO, Inc. v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: June 8, 2023
• Docket: 01-23-00385-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued June 8, 2023

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-23-00385-CV ——————————— IN RE FRACHT FWO, INC., Relator

Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus

MEMORANDUM OPINION

On May 25, 2023, relator Fracht FWO, Inc., filed a petition for writ of

mandamus asking this Court to order the trial court to withdraw or vacate the May

23, 2023 order on real party in interest Colossal Transport Solutions LLC’s

emergency motion for expedited discovery.1 Relator also requested emergency

1 The underlying case is Colossal Transport Solutions, LLC v. Fracht FWO, Inc. and Toni Ybarra, cause number 2023-31222, pending in the 129th District Court of Harris County, Texas, the Honorable Michael Gomez presiding. relief staying the May 23, 2023 order. By order issued on May 26, 2023, this Court

granted in part the motion for emergency relief, staying only those portions of the

order concerning relator.

On May 30, 2023, relator filed a motion to dismiss its petition, stating that by

order signed on May 26, 2023 the trial court had vacated the May 23, 2023 order on

real party’s motion for expedited discovery. Relator asserted that, because the order

challenged in the petition for writ of mandamus had been set aside, the petition was

moot.

“A case becomes moot when (1) a justiciable controversy no longer exists

between the parties, (2) the parties no longer have a legally cognizable interest in the

case’s outcome, (3) the court can no longer grant the requested relief or otherwise

affect the parties’ rights or interests, or (4) any decision would constitute an

impermissible advisory opinion.” Elec. Reliability Council of Tex., Inc. v. Panda

Power Generation Infrastructure Fund, LLC, 619 S.W.3d 628, 634–35 (Tex. 2021).

Because relator has received the relief it sought in the mandamus petition, a

controversy no longer exists and we must dismiss the petition as moot. See In re

Herring, No. 01-14-00989-CV, 2015 WL 4099718, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st

Dist.] July 7, 2015, orig. proceeding).

2 The Court held this motion for ten days to permit real party in interest the

opportunity to oppose the motion, but real party did not file a response. See TEX. R.

APP. P. 10.3(a).

Accordingly, we grant relator’s motion and dismiss as moot the petition for

writ of mandamus. Any other pending motions are also dismissed as moot.

PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Kelly, Hightower, and Countiss.