Katrina Ellis v. City of Newark

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS

SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH

NO. 02-12-00165-CV

Katrina Ellis § From the 271st District Court

§ of Wise County (CV11-09-730)

v.

§ March 7, 2013

City of Newark § Per Curiam

JUDGMENT

This court has considered the record on appeal in this case and holds that the appeal should be dismissed. It is ordered that the appeal is dismissed as moot.

It is further ordered that Appellant Katrina Ellis shall pay all costs of this appeal, for which let execution issue.

SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

PER CURIAM

COURT OF APPEALS

SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH

NO. 02-12-00165-CV

KATRINA ELLIS APPELLANT V.

CITY OF NEWARK APPELLEE

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FROM THE 271ST DISTRICT COURT OF WISE COUNTY ----------

MEMORANDUM OPINION1

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The trial court granted a summary judgment in favor of Appellee City of Newark (the City), ordering Appellant Katrina Ellis to remove a fence that she had illegally erected on property adjacent to her property and to take no further action, including erecting another fence or structure, on the adjacent property. Ellis appealed the summary judgment order, but the City has filed a motion to

dismiss the appeal as moot, arguing that there is no longer a justiciable 1 See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.

controversy between the parties because Ellis transferred ownership of her property—200 Killough Street—to a third party. When the judgment of this court can have no effect on an existing controversy, a case becomes moot and should be dismissed. See Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Nueces Cnty., 886 S.W.2d 766, 766–67 (Tex. 1994); Moss-Schulze v. EMC Mortg. Corp., 280 S.W.3d 876, 877 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2008, pet. denied). Because Ellis no longer owns the property located at 200 Killough Street, and because there is no argument or evidence that her purported ownership interest in the adjacent property existed separate and apart from her ownership of 200 Killough Street, any judgment that this court issues will have no effect because there is no longer a justiciable controversy between Ellis and the City. Therefore, we grant the City’s motion to dismiss and dismiss this appeal as moot.

PER CURIAM

PANEL: MEIER, J.; LIVINGSTON, C.J.; and GABRIEL, J. DELIVERED: March 7, 2013