Iron Oak, Inc. v. John T. Preston and Michael Eugene Porter

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 29, 2023
• Docket: 01-22-00032-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued August 29, 2023

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-22-00032-CV ——————————— IRON OAK, INC., Appellant V. JOHN T. PRESTON AND MICHAEL EUGENE PORTER, Appellees

On Appeal from the 215th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2020-23705

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Iron Oak, Inc. is attempting to appeal from the trial court’s

January 18, 2022 order disbursing escrow funds and staying proceedings pending

judgment in certain litigation in the State of New York. This January 18, 2022

order was also the subject of a petition for writ of mandamus filed in case number 01-22-00170-CV. In the mandamus case, real parties in interest (appellees in this

appeal) filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that the mandamus case was moot

because the trial court had withdrawn the January 18, 2022 order.

On July 6, 2022, this Court issued a notice that this appeal might be

dismissed as moot because the order appealed had been withdrawn by the trial

court and we invited the parties to file a response by July 17, 2023 establishing that

the appeal is not moot. No responses were filed.

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

the parties. See Heckman v. Williamson Cty., 369 S.W.3d 137, 162 (Tex. 2012).

“To constitute a justiciable controversy, there must exist a real and substantial

controversy involving a genuine conflict of tangible interests and not merely a

theoretical dispute.” Save Our Springs Alliance v. City of Austin, 149 S.W.3d 674,

681 (Tex. App.—Austin 2004, no pet.). Because the trial court has withdrawn the

order appealed in this case, there is no longer a justiciable controversy between the

parties and therefore, the appeal is moot and we must dismiss the appeal for lack of

jurisdiction. See Heckman, 369 S.W.3d at 162.

Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Any pending

motions are also dismissed as moot.

PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Kelly, Landau, and Farris.