In Re Nicholas Heredia v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: February 25, 2025
• Docket: 01-25-00100-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued February 25, 2025

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-25-00100-CV ——————————— IN RE NICHOLAS HEREDIA, Relator

Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Relator, Nicholas Heredia, filed a petition for writ of mandamus challenging

a February 11, 2025 order of the Justice Court, Precinct 7, Place 1 of Harris County,

Texas, denying relator’s “Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment.”1 Relator requests

that this Court issue a writ of mandamus compelling the Justice Court to “[v]acate

1 The underlying case is Lakes TX Partner LLC v. Nicholas Heredia, Cause No. 247100444792, in the Justice Court, Precinct 7, Place 1 of Harris County, Texas, the Honorable Wanda Adams presiding. the order denying [r]elator’s Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment” and “[g]rant

[r]elator a hearing on the merits of the motion.”

An appellate court may issue a writ of mandamus against judges of a district,

statutory county, statutory probate, or a county court in the court of appeals district.

See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 22.221(b). Relator’s petition for writ of mandamus

requests that this Court issue a writ of mandamus against a justice court. This Court

lacks mandamus jurisdiction over a justice court. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN.

§ 22.221(b)–(c); see also In re Castro, No. 02-23-00489-CV, 2024 WL 23627, at *1

(Tex. App.—Fort Worth Jan. 2, 2024, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.) (dismissing

petition for writ of mandamus for want of jurisdiction where relator challenged

“actions of a justice of the peace”); In re Garcia, No. 13-18-00651-CV, 2018 WL

6219254, at *2 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi–Edinburg Nov. 28, 2018, orig.

proceeding) (mem. op.) (“This Court does not have jurisdiction to issue a writ of

mandamus against a justice of the peace.”).

Accordingly, pursuant to our review of relator’s mandamus petition, we

conclude that we lack jurisdiction to grant the mandamus relief requested by relator.

We therefore dismiss relator’s petition for writ of mandamus for lack of jurisdiction.

We dismiss any pending motions as moot.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Justices Guerra, Caughey, and Morgan.