Matthew Andrew Garces v. 523 RE Group LLC

• Court: Texas Court of Appeals, 4th District (San Antonio)
• Decided: June 24, 2026
• Docket: 04-25-00693-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Fourth Court of Appeals San Antonio, Texas MEMORANDUM OPINION No. 04-25-00693-CV

Matthew Andrew GARCES, Appellant

v.

523 RE GROUP LLC, Appellee

From the County Court at Law No. 3, Bexar County, Texas Trial Court No. 2025-CV-06936 Honorable Cesar Garcia, Judge Presiding

PER CURIAM

Sitting: Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice Irene Rios, Justice Velia J. Meza, Justice

Delivered and Filed: June 24, 2026

VACATED AND DISMISSED

This is an appeal from a judgment awarding possession in a forcible detainer action. The

issue of possession in a forcible detainer action becomes moot if the judgment is not superseded

timely, the appellant is no longer in possession, and the appellant does not have a potentially

meritorious claim of right to current, actual possession. See Wriston v. Hous. Auth. of the City of

San Antonio, No. 04-24-00240-CV, 2024 WL 3280916, at *1 (Tex. App.—San Antonio July 3,

2024, no pet.) (mem. op.). If a case is moot, we must dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. See 04-25-00693-CV

Briones v. Brazos Bend Villa Apts., 438 S.W.3d 808, 812 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2014,

no pet.).

In this case, we issued a show cause order, noting a writ of possession had issued, and

appellant had not filed a bond to supersede the judgment. We directed appellant to file a response

explaining why this case should not be dismissed. Appellant, acting pro se, filed a brief, which we

construe as his response, relating to the merits of the appeal. The response does not address the

issue of whether this appeal is moot.

“Judgment of possession in a forcible detainer action is not intended to be a final

determination of whether the eviction is wrongful; rather, it is a determination of the right to

immediate possession.” Marshall v. Hous. Auth. of City of San Antonio, 198 S.W.3d 782, 787 (Tex.

2006). When the issue of possession becomes moot we will therefore “vacate the trial court’s

judgment, and dismiss the case as moot.” Id. at 790.

Accordingly, we vacate the trial court’s judgment and dismiss the case as moot. See id.

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