The State of Texas v. Nonparty Patient No. 1, Nonparty Patient No. 2, Nonparty Patient No. 3, Nonparty Patient No. 4, Nonparty Patient No. 5, Nonparty Patient No. 6, Nonparty Patient No. 7, and Nonparty Patient No. 8, Nonparty Patient No. 9, Nonparty Patient No. 10, and Nonparty Patient No. 11

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 11, 2025·No. 15-25-00023-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 15-25-00023-CV FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 3/11/2025 4:08 PM No. 15-25-00023-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK FILED IN IN THE FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS 15th COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS AUSTIN, TEXAS 3/11/2025 4:08:43 PM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk State of Texas, Appellant, v.

Nonparty Patient No. 1, Nonparty Patient No. 2, Nonparty Patient No. 3, Nonparty Patient No. 4, Nonparty Patient No. 5, Nonparty Patient No. 6, Nonparty Patient No. 7, Nonparty Patient No. 8, Nonparty Patient No. 9, Nonparty Patient No. 10, and Nonparty Patient No. 11, Appellees.

On Appeal from the 95th Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas Cause No. DC-25-01823, The Honorable Monica McCoy Purdy presiding

NONPARTY PATIENTS’ EMERGENCY MOTION TO STAY DISCOVERY PENDING INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL

Jervonne D. Newsome (Lead Counsel) William M. Logan Texas Bar No. 24094869 Texas Bar No. 24106214 jnewsome@winston.com wlogan@winston.com Thanh D. Nguyen Evan D. Lewis Texas Bar No. 24126931 Texas Bar No. 24116670 tdnguyen@winston.com edlewis@winston.com WINSTON & STRAWN LLP Olivia A. Wogon 2121 N. Pearl St., 9th Floor Texas Bar No. 24137299 Dallas, TX 75201 oawogon@winston.com Telephone: (214) 453-6500 WINSTON & STRAWN LLP 800 Capitol Street, Suite 2400 Houston, TX 77002 Telephone: (713) 651-2600

1 I. SUMMARY OF THE MOTION

The Appellees (“Nonparty Patients”) respectfully move the Court to

maintain the status quo during the pendency this appeal. Specifically, the

Nonparty Patients ask that the Court stay any discovery obligations under the

subpoenas served by State of Texas on Children’s Health System of Texas

(“Children’s”) and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (“UT

Southwestern”) (collectively, the “Subpoenas”).1

In the proceedings below, the State served the Subpoenas in Dallas County.

The Subpoenas improperly demand that Children’s and UT Southwestern produce

all the Nonparty Patients’ private medical records. In turn, the Nonparty Patients

invoked Tex. R. Civ. P. 176.6(e); cited their privileges under Tex. R. Evid. 509

and Tex. R. Evid. 510; and sought a protective order in Dallas County.

During a hearing, before the Dallas County Court could rule on the

Nonparty Patients’ requests for protection, it first determined that it had

jurisdiction over the Nonparty Patients’ action. The State then filed notice of this

interlocutory appeal mid hearing—before the Dallas County Court could reach the

merits of the Nonparty Patients’ request for protection, including their assertions

of privileges against disclosing private medical records sought in the Subpoenas.

1 Pursuant to the Collin County District Court’s Protective Order § III(F), the Nonparty Patients have filed this Motion using a generic reference to avoid disclosing their identities as patients related to that litigation. Consistent with the Protective Order, the Nonparty Patients may be identified in camera or as otherwise ordered by the Court. 2 Since filing its notice interlocutory appeal, the State has insisted that

Children’s and UT Southwestern must begin producing materials responsive to

the Subpoenas. That insistence is improper. The State’s position eviscerates both

the Nonparty Patients’ procedural rights under Tex. R. Civ. P. 176(e) to be heard

where the subpoenas were served and their substantive rights under Tex. R.

Evid. 509 and 510 to withhold, or limit access to, their private health information.

The Nonparty Patients accordingly request an order from this Court that

maintains the status quo and ensures that the automatic stay trigged by the State’s

interlocutory appeal does not have the unintended effect of substantively denying

the Nonparty Patients’ relief sought below.

II. BASES FOR RELIEF

Pursuant to Tex. R. App. P. Rule 29.3, “[w]hen an appeal from an

interlocutory order is perfected, the appellate court may make any temporary

orders necessary to preserve the parties’ rights until disposition of the appeal.”

Likewise, Tex. R. App. P. Rule 52.10 provides for “a motion to stay any underlying

proceedings or for any other temporary relief.” These rules offer “a way to

‘preserve the status quo’ while the appeal proceeds.” In re State, 2024 WL

2983176, at *2 (Tex. June 14, 2024). These rules, and their purposes, support the

Nonparty Patients’ Motion.

3 III. THE PROCEEDINGS BELOW

The only substantive issues pending below are the Nonparty Patients’

requests for protection from the State’s Subpoenas to Children’s and UT

Southwestern. App. A (2d Am. Pet.). The Subpoenas arise from the State’s civil

lawsuit against Dr. May C. Lau in Collin County’s 493rd Judicial District, Cause

No. 493-07677-2024, alleging, inter alia, violations of SB14 and deceptive billing

practices. The Nonparty Patients are not parties to that lawsuit. The State’s

Subpoenas target the Nonparty Patients’ medical records under color of that

lawsuit, but the Subpoenas’ requests are not tailored to the underlying dispute in

any meaningful way. Instead, the Subpoenas request all the Nonparty Patients’

medical records for at least the past four years, for all providers (not just Dr. Lau)

at two of the largest hospital systems in Texas. App. B (Children’s Subpoena);

App. C (UT Southwestern Subpoena).

The Subpoenas are thus overly broad and facially demand the production

of materials privileged under Tex. R. Evid. 509 and Tex. R. Evid 510—without

focusing on any condition that is a fact of consequence in the Collin County

lawsuit, as required under the litigation exceptions to those privileges. See, e.g.,

App. B at 6 (“1. Produce documents relating to the care and treatment of

[redacted] (DOB: [redacted]), including medical and billing records,

psychotherapy notes, and correspondence from January 1, 2021, through the

4 present.”); App. C at 6; see also R.K. v. Ramirez, 887 S.W.2d 836, 843 (Tex. 1994)

(“To summarize, the exceptions to the medical and mental health privileges apply

when (1) the records sought to be discovered are relevant to the condition at issue,

and (2) the condition is relied upon as a part of a party's claim or defense, meaning

that the condition itself is a fact that carries some legal significance. Both parts of

the test must be met before the exception will apply.”).

The State served both Subpoenas in Dallas County. See, e.g., App. A ¶ 3.

Consistent with Tex. R. Civ. P. 176.6(e), the Nonparty Patients—many of whom

live in Dallas County, and whose responsive medical records are maintained in

Dallas County—filed a petition moving for protection “in the county where the

subpoena[s] [were] served” (i.e., in Dallas County). App. A ¶ 3. The State

subsequently filed pleas to the jurisdiction and in abatement, contending (1) that

in the State’s role as a voluntary civil plaintiff, sovereign immunity precludes

using Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 176.6(e) to challenge its subpoenas, and

(2) that petitions seeking protection under Tex. R. Civ. P. 176.6(e) must be abated

in favor of the originating trial court, effectively rendering the choice of

challenging a subpoena in the county where it was served meaningless.

The Dallas County District Court set a hearing on the Nonparty Patients’

request for protection for March 6, 2025. During that hearing, the Dallas County

Court heard the State’s pleas to the jurisdiction and in abatement, and, after

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The State of Texas v. Nonparty Patient No. 1, Nonparty Patient No. 2, Nonparty Patient No. 3, Nonparty Patient No. 4, Nonparty Patient No. 5, Nonparty Patient No. 6, Nonparty Patient No. 7, and Nonparty Patient No. 8, Nonparty Patient No. 9, Nonparty Patient No. 10, and Nonparty Patient No. 11, (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

The State of Texas v. Nonparty Patient No. 1, Nonparty Patient No. 2, Nonparty Patient No. 3, Nonparty Patient No. 4, Nonparty Patient No. 5, Nonparty Patient No. 6, Nonparty Patient No. 7, and Nonparty Patient No. 8, Nonparty Patient No. 9, Nonparty Patient No. 10, and Nonparty Patient No. 11 (The State of Texas v. Nonparty Patient No. 1, Nonparty Patient No. 2, Nonparty Patient No. 3, Nonparty Patient No. 4, Nonparty Patient No. 5, Nonparty Patient No. 6, Nonparty Patient No. 7, and Nonparty Patient No. 8, Nonparty Patient No. 9, Nonparty Patient No. 10, and Nonparty Patient No. 11) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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