Marlen Mejia Blanco v. Lorenzo Betancourt

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: September 12, 2024
• Docket: 01-22-00890-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued September 12, 2024

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-22-00890-CV ——————————— MARLEN MEJIA BLANCO, Appellant V. LORENZO BETANCOURT, Appellee

On Appeal from the 247th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2021-00120

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant, Marlen Mejia Blanco, filed a notice of appeal from the trial court’s

August 26, 2022 Final Decree of Divorce. On the motion of appellant, the Court

abated this appeal for referral to mediation. After being notified by the mediator

chosen by the parties that the outstanding issues had been settled at mediation, the parties did not move to dismiss their appeal. Accordingly, on August 13, 2024, the

Court directed the parties to file a motion to reinstate and dismiss the appeal, or if

there remained outstanding issues on appeal, to file a motion to reinstate, at which

point the Court would set a briefing schedule.

In response to the Court’s notice, on August 20, 2024, appellant filed an

“Agreed Motion to Reinstate After Abatement for Mediation.” In the motion, signed

by counsel for both appellant and appellee, Lorenzo Betancourt, the parties

confirmed that an agreement was reached at mediation. Further, while the motion

requested that the appeal “be reinstated on the [Court’s] docket,” the parties did not

seek dismissal of the appeal. On September 5, 2024, the Court granted the motion

and reinstated the appeal on the Court’s active docket.

The parties subsequently filed a “Joint Motion to Dismiss Appeal.” In their

motion to dismiss, the parties represented that they had “reached an agreement to

settle and compromise their differences” in the underlying trial court cause. The

parties therefore requested that the Court dismiss their appeal and “render judgment

effectuating the parties’ agreement.” See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.1(a)(2)(A). The parties’

motion further requested that “[c]osts on appeal should be paid by each party who

bore them.”

2 No other party has filed a notice of appeal, and no opinion has issued. See

TEX. R. APP. P. 42.1(a)(2), (c). The motion to dismiss is signed by counsel for both

parties.

Accordingly, we grant the parties’ motion, dismiss the appeal, and render

judgment in accordance with the agreement of the parties. See TEX. R. APP. P.

42.1(a)(2)(A). We direct the Clerk of this Court that costs are to be taxed against

the party incurring the same. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.1. We dismiss all other pending

motions as moot.

PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams and Justices Goodman and Guerra.