Lee Pevoteaux v. the Pines on Lake Conroe RV Park

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: March 9, 2023
• Docket: 09-22-00349-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

__________________

NO. 09-22-00349-CV __________________

LEE PEVOTEAUX, Appellant

V.

THE PINES ON LAKE CONROE RV PARK, Appellee

__________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 6 Montgomery County, Texas Trial Cause No. 22-32885 __________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Lee Pevoteaux filed a notice of appeal from a judgment granting a writ of

possession in a forcible detainer action. Pevoteaux did not supersede the judgment.

The appellee informed the Court that Pevoteaux moved out of the RV Park and

removed his recreational vehicle from the premises. The clerk’s record includes an

executed and returned writ of possession. On January 31, 2023, the Clerk of the

Court notified the parties that we received a suggestion of mootness and that we

1 would dismiss the case as moot unless we received a meritorious objection within

ten days. None of the parties responded to the Clerk’s notice.

“The only issue in a forcible detainer action is the right to actual possession

of the premises.” Marshall v. Hous. Auth. of City of San Antonio, 198 S.W.3d 782,

785 (Tex. 2006). An appeal from a forcible detainer judgment becomes moot if the

defendant is no longer in possession of the property, unless he holds and asserts a

potentially meritorious claim of right to current, actual possession. Id. at 787.

Although he was provided with an opportunity to identify a justiciable controversy

in response to the suggestion of mootness, Pevoteaux failed to respond to the Clerk’s

notice. An appellate court may dismiss the appeal when the appellant has failed to

comply with a notice from the clerk requiring a response within a specified time. See

Tex. R. App. P. 42.2(c). Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal as moot.

DISMISSED.

PER CURIAM

Submitted on March 8, 2023 Opinion Delivered March 9, 2023

Before Golemon, C.J., Horton and Johnson, JJ.