Oliver Gaines v. Wesley Nahm and Laura Mendoza
Opinion
Opinion issued August 13, 2026
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
Gaines, Jeremy Freeman, and Twelve12 Remodeling & Design LLC and in favor of appellees. On July 8, 2025, Oliver Gaines appealed. On September 2, 2025, appellants Jeremy Freeman and Twelve12 Remodeling & Design LLC also appealed.
On September 16, 2025, this Court abated the case and referred the parties to mediation. The mediation order allowed any party to object within ten days. The order further directed the parties, absent a sustained objection, to select a qualified mediator, participate in mediation, and file a status report regarding settlement within fifty days. No objection was filed.
Appellants failed to file a status report by the deadline. The Court requested a status update on December 30, 2025, to be filed within ten days. Appellees responded that no mediation had occurred and attributed the failure to appellants’ lack of participation and failure to abide by this Court’s mediation order. Appellees also moved to dismiss the appeal.
Appellants did not respond to the motion to dismiss. Appellant Oliver Gaines acknowledged that mediation had not occurred but requested that the abatement continue to allow the parties additional time to mediate. Appellants Jeremy Freeman and Twelve12 Remodeling & Design LLC did not respond as ordered by the Court.
On January 15, 2026, the Court continued the abatement, ordered the parties
to file a status report by April 15, 2026, and carried appellees’ motion to dismiss with the case.
Appellants again did not update the Court by April 15, 2026 as ordered. The Court again ordered a status update on April 28, 2026, with a deadline of seven days. Appellants ignored that order as well. On May 28, 2026, we again ordered the parties to provide a status update within seven days.
Finally, on June 4, 2026, counsel for appellant Gaines reported that, despite several months passing and the Court’s express orders, no mediation had occurred, no mediation had been scheduled, and counsel had been unable to communicate with appellant Gaines regarding the appeal or mediation. Counsel also filed a motion to withdraw. Again, appellants Jeremy Freeman and Twelve12 Remodeling & Design LLC did not respond as ordered.
On June 30, 2026, after determining that mediation could not proceed, the Court reinstated the appeal to its active docket, granted counsel’s motion to withdraw, and ordered appellants’ brief to be filed within thirty days. Appellants did not respond and did not file their brief by the deadline.
The Court may dismiss an appeal for want of prosecution or for failure to comply with an order of this Court on any party’s motion. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(b), (c).
The record demonstrates that appellants do not intend to prosecute this
appeal. We ordered the parties to mediate; appellants did not mediate. We ordered status reports; appellants did not file them. We gave appellants additional time and multiple opportunities to comply, yet they repeatedly ignored this Court’s orders. One appellant failed to maintain any communication with his attorney, while another’s attorney has been unresponsive to the Court since filing the notice of appeal more than a year ago. Finally, after we reinstated the appeal and ordered appellants to file a brief, appellants neither filed a brief nor otherwise communicated with the Court. This pattern shows that appellants have abandoned the appeal and have no intention of diligently prosecuting it. See Ne. Health Servs., Inc. v. Boateng, No. 07-02-0175-CV, 2002 WL 1009732, at *1 (Tex. App.— Amarillo May 17, 2002, no pet.) (mem. op.).
Accordingly, we grant appellees’ motion to dismiss. See Tex. R. App. P.
42.3(a), (c), 43.2(f). Any pending motions are dismissed as moot.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams, Justices Rivas-Molloy and Guiney.
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