In Re R Wayne Johnson v. the State of Texas

Opinion

Opinion issued July 29, 2025

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-25-00504-CV ——————————— IN RE R WAYNE JOHNSON, Relator

Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Relator R Wayne Johnson seeks a writ of mandamus to compel the

respondents the Harris County Clerk and the County Court at Law No. 3 to vacate

an order dismissing his underlying suit.1

This Court’s mandamus jurisdiction is governed by the Government Code.

See TEX. GOV’T CODE § 22.221. A court of appeals may issue writs of mandamus

1 The underlying case is R Wayne Johnson v. Lee Rosenthal; Keith Ellison; Lynn Hughes, cause number 22-CCV-071029, pending in the County Court at Law No. 3 of Fort Bend, County, Texas, the Honorable Juli Mathew presiding. against (1) a judge of a district, statutory county, statutory probate county, or

county court in the court of appeals district; (2) a judge of a district court who is

acting as a magistrate at a court of inquiry under Chapter 52 of the Code of

Criminal Procedure in the court of appeals district; or (3) an associate judge of a

district or county court appointed by a judge under Chapter 201 of the Family

Code in the court of appeals district for the judge who appointed the associate

judge. Id. § 22.221(b), (c). The courts of appeals also may issue all writs necessary

to enforce the court of appeals’ jurisdiction. Id. § 22.221(a).

The county clerk is not specified in section 22.221. Moreover, relator has

not shown that the issuance of a writ compelling the requested relief is necessary to

enforce our appellate jurisdiction. See id. § 22.221(a). Accordingly, to the extent

that relator seeks relief against the county clerk, we lack jurisdiction to issue a writ

of mandamus against this respondent. See In re Johnson, No. 01-06-00805-CV,

2007 WL 2963685, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Oct. 11, 2007, orig.

proceeding) (mem. op.). We therefore dismiss this portion of relator’s petition for

lack of jurisdiction. To the extent that relator seeks relief against the County Court

at Law No. 3, we deny mandamus relief. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.8(a). We dismiss

all pending motions as moot.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams and Justices Caughey and Johnson.