In Re Iron Oak, Inc. v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: June 8, 2023
• Docket: 01-22-00170-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued June 8, 2023

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-22-00170-CV ——————————— IN RE IRON OAK, INC., Relator

Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Relator Iron Oak, Inc. filed a petition for writ of mandamus, asking that we

order the trial court to vacate its January 18, 2022 order prohibiting John T. Preston

and/or Michael Eugene Porter or any person acting on their behalf or in concert with

them from accepting or receiving any funds on deposit under or pursuant to the

Escrow Agreement between U.S. Bank, John T. Preston, Michael Eugene

Porter, and Continuum Energy Technologies.1 We dismiss this petition as moot.

1 The underlying case is Iron Oak, LLC v. Continuum Energy Technologies, LLC, cause number 2020-23705, pending in the 215th District Court of Harris County, Texas, the Honorable Elaine Palmer presiding. On March 17, 2023, real parties in interest, John T. Preston and Michael

Eugene Porter, filed a motion to dismiss this original proceeding as moot, attaching

a copy of the trial court’s March 9, 2023 order which vacated the order of January

18, 2022 challenged in Iron Oak’s petition. Iron Oak filed no response opposing the

motion.

A case becomes moot if there is no longer a justiciable controversy between

the parties that may be resolved by mandamus relief. See Heckman v. Williamson

Cty., 369 S.W.3d 137, 166–67 (Tex. 2012). If a proceeding becomes moot, we must

dismiss the proceeding for lack of jurisdiction. See id.

Here, the order Iron Oak challenged in its petition for writ of mandamus was

vacated by the trial court in its March 9, 2023 order on summary judgment and

sanctions. Because the order challenged in Iron Oak’s petition has now been

vacated, this proceeding is moot.

We dismiss the petition as moot. Any pending motions are also dismissed as

moot.

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