William Birchett v. City of Fort Worth, Texas

Opinion

DISMISS and Opinion Filed June 24, 2019

S In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-19-00626-CV

WILLIAM BIRCHETT, Appellant V.

CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 162nd Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. DC-19-06941

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Whitehill, Partida-Kipness, and Pedersen, III Opinion by Justice Whitehill Appellant appeals from the trial court’s May 23, 2019 order denying his emergency

application for temporary restraining order to prevent spoliation of evidence. The Court

questioned its jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal. We instructed appellant to file, by June

10, 2019, a letter brief addressing our concern and cautioned him that failure to comply may result

in dismissal of the appeal without further notice. As of today’s date, appellant has not filed a

response.

Generally, appellate courts have jurisdiction only over appeals from final judgments. See

Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001). The legislature has created narrow

exceptions to this general rule, allowing appellate courts to review specific interlocutory orders

when explicitly permitted by statute. See Stary v. DeBord, 967 S.W.2d 352, 352–53 (Tex. 1998)

(per curiam); e.g., TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. §§ 15.003(b), 27.008, 51.014(a), 51.016.

There is no statutory exception allowing an appeal from an order denying an application for a

temporary restraining order to prevent spoliation of evidence. Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal

for want of jurisdiction. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a).

/Bill Whitehill/ BILL WHITEHILL JUSTICE

190626F.P05

3

S

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas JUDGMENT

WILLIAM BIRCHETT, Appellant On Appeal from the 162nd Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas No. 05-19-00626-CV V. Trial Court Cause No. DC-19-06941.

Opinion delivered by Justice Whitehill.

CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, Justices Partida-Kipness and Pedersen, III Appellee participating.

In accordance with this Court’s opinion of this date, the appeal is DISMISSED.

It is ORDERED that appellee CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS recover its costs of this appeal from appellant WILLIAM BIRCHETT.

Judgment entered June 24, 2019