In Re Ijeoma A. Ejem v. the State of Texas

• Court: Texas Court of Appeals, 3rd District (Austin)
• Decided: January 29, 2026
• Docket: 03-26-00078-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-26-00078-CV

In re Ijeoma A. Ejem

ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM TRAVIS COUNTY

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Relator has filed a petition for writ of mandamus complaining of the justice

court’s alleged refusal to dispose of pending motions at the time judgment was rendered in the

underlying matter. We lack jurisdiction to issue a writ of mandamus against a justice of the

peace or justice court unless it is necessary to preserve our jurisdiction. See Tex. Gov’t Code

§ 22.221 (writ power of court of appeals); Twenty First Century Holdings, Inc. v. Precision

Geothermal Drilling, L.L.C., No. 03-13-00081-CV, 2015 WL 1882267, at *6 (Tex. App.—

Austin Apr. 23, 2015, no pet.) (mem. op.) (citing Mullins v. Holt, No. 10–13–00114–CV,

2013 WL 2257151 (Tex. App.—Waco May 9, 2013, no pet.)) (mem. op.) (court of appeals has

no jurisdiction to issue writ against judge of justice court unless necessary to preserve

jurisdiction); Rodriguez v. Womack, No. 14–10–01213–CV, 2012 WL 19659 (Tex. App.—

Houston [14th Dist.] Jan. 5, 2012, pet. denied) (mem. op.) (noting court of appeals’ lack of

jurisdiction to issue writ against justice court). Relator does not argue or show that a writ of mandamus is necessary to preserve our jurisdiction in this case. Therefore, we lack jurisdiction

to issue the requested writ. See In re Smith, 355 S.W.3d 901, 901–02 (Tex. App.—Amarillo

2011, orig. proceeding) (per curiam) (where appellants did not argue or show writ was necessary

to preserve jurisdiction, appellate court lacked jurisdiction to issue writ against justice of peace).

Accordingly, the petition is dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

__________________________________________ Karin Crump, Justice

Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Theofanis and Crump

Filed: January 29, 2026