No. 05-18-00582-CV 

IN THE FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS 

DALLAS, TEXAS

IN RE TOYOTA MOTOR SALES, U.S.A., INC.,

AND TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION

Relators. 

Original Proceeding from the 134th District Court 

Dallas County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. DC-16-15296, 

Honorable Dale Tillery, Presiding

EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RELIEF

James W. Halbrooks, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 24045354 

James.Halbrooks@bowmanandbrooke.com 

Suzanne H. Swaner 

Texas Bar No. 90001631 

Suzanne.Swaner@bowmanandbrooke.com 

BOWMAN AND BROOKE LLP 

5830 Granite Park, Suite 1000 

Plano, Texas 75024 

T. 972.616.1700 F. 972.616.1701 

Victor Vital 

Texas Bar No. 00794798 

victor.vital@btlaw.com 

Elizabeth Brandon 

Texas Bar No. 24049580 

ebrandon@btlaw.com 

BARNES & THORNBURG LLP 

2100 McKinney Ave, Suite 1250 

Dallas, Texas 75201-6908 

T. 214.258.4200 F. 214.258.4199 

Allyson N. Ho 

Texas Bar No. 24033667 

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP

1717 Main Street, Suite 3200 

Dallas, Texas 75201 

allyson.ho@morganlewis.com 

T. 214.466.4000 F. 214.466.4001 

Winstol D. Carter, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 03932950 

winn.carter@morganlewis.com 

Claire Swift Kugler 

Texas Bar No. 00797530 

claire.kugler@morganlewis.com 

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP

1000 Louisiana, Suite 4000 

Houston, Texas 77002 

T. 713.890.5000 F. 713.890.5001 

 Counsel for Relators 

ACCEPTED

05-18-00582-CV

FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS

DALLAS, TEXAS

5/21/2018 8:55 AM

LISA MATZ

CLERK

 FILED IN 5th COURT OF APPEALS DALLAS, TEXAS 5/21/2018 8:55:25 AM LISA MATZ Clerk
IDENTITIES OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL

The following constitutes a list of all parties to the cause below and the names 

and addresses of all counsel: 

Relators (Defendants in the Trial Court):

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation 

Counsel for Relators:

James W. Halbrooks, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 24045354 

James.Halbrooks@bowmanandbrooke.com

Suzanne H. Swaner 

Texas Bar No. 90001631 

Suzanne.Swaner@bowmanandbrooke.com 

BOWMAN AND BROOKE LLP 

5830 Granite Park, Suite 1000 

Plano, Texas 75024 

T. 972.616.1700 F. 972.616.1701 

Victor Vital 

Texas Bar No. 00794798 

victor.vital@btlaw.com 

Elizabeth Brandon 

Texas Bar No. 24049580 

ebrandon@btlaw.com 

BARNES & THORNBURG LLP 

2100 McKinney Ave, Suite 1250 

Dallas, Texas 75201-6908 

T. 214.258.4200 F. 214.258.4199 

Allyson N. Ho 

Texas Bar No. 24033667 

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP

1717 Main Street, Suite 3200 

Dallas, Texas 75201 

allyson.ho@morganlewis.com 

T. 214.466.4000 F. 214.466.4001 

Winstol D. Carter, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 03932950 

winn.carter@morganlewis.com 

Claire Swift Kugler 

Texas Bar No. 00797530 

claire.kugler@morganlewis.com 

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP

1000 Louisiana, Suite 4000 

Houston, Texas 77002 

T. 713.890.5000 F. 713.890.5001 

Respondent: 

Honorable Dale Tillery 

Judge, 134th District Court 

Dallas County, Texas 
2 

Real Parties In Interest (Plaintiffs in the Trial Court): 

Benjamin Thomas Reavis and 

Kristi Carol Reavis, individually and as next friends of 

E.R. and O.R., minor children 

Counsel For Real Parties In Interest: 

Frank L. Branson 

Texas Bar No. 02899000 

Eric T. Stahl 

Texas Bar No. 00794685 

Eugene A. “Chip” Brooker, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 24045558 

THE LAW OFFICES OF FRANK L. BRANSON, P.C. 

Highland Park Place 

4514 Cole Avenue, 18th Floor 

Dallas, Texas 75205 

T. 214.522.0200 F. 214.521.5485 

Other Parties (Defendants in the Trial Court): 

Michael Steven Mummaw 

Mark Howell 

Counsel For Defendant Michael Steven Mummaw and Mark Howell: 

Jonathan Manning 

Texas Bar No. 12947200 

LAW OFFICES OF GALLERSON & YATES

2110 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 200 

Irving, Texas 75038 

T. 972.580.1249 F. 855.614.6695 
3 

Relators Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation 

(together, “Toyota”) move for emergency temporary relief pending this Court’s 

disposition of their Petition for Writ of Mandamus. TEX. R. APP. P. 52.10. 

Emergency relief is immediately necessary because the trial court has refused to 

extend its stay of the discovery order at issue beyond today, May 18, 2018. MR574. 

The discovery order provides that, after conducting a search using “Plaintiffs’ 

proposed formulation,” “Toyota shall have seven days in which to review the 

responsive documents to determine whether any materials should be withheld from 

production because they are privileged. . . .” MR386. Toyota must therefore seek 

emergency temporary relief to avoid responding to invasive, overbroad discovery 

requests. TEX. R. APP. P. 10.3(a)(3) (requiring court of appeals to determine motion 

at least ten days after filing unless “the motion is an emergency”). 

Toyota respectfully requests that this Court stay Respondent’s* order 

requiring Toyota to give Plaintiffs: 

• Direct access to its electronic database systems without first 

making the evidentiary showing required by In re Weekley 

Homes, 295 S.W.3d 309 (Tex. 2005) (orig. proceeding); 

• Discovery that exceeds what is permitted by the rules of 

procedure by requiring Toyota to translate documents normally 

maintained in Japanese into English, contrary to the rule that 

parties need only produce documents as kept “in the usual course 

of business,” In re Colonial Pipeline Co., 968 S.W.2d 938, 942 

*

 Respondent is the Honorable Dale Tillery of the 134th District Court of Dallas 

County, Texas. 
4 

(Tex. 1998) (orig. proceeding); and 

• Discovery that is irrelevant, overbroad, and disproportional 

because it is unlimited in scope, time, and subject matter, 

contrary to the rule that “overbroad requests for irrelevant 

information are improper whether they are burdensome or not, In 

re Nat’l Lloyds Ins. Co., 449 S.W.3d 486, 488 (Tex. 2014) (per 

curiam) (orig. proceeding). 

Respondent signed the order—which was unilaterally submitted by the Real Parties 

in Interest and entered in its entirety by Respondent—on May 4, 2018, denied 

reconsideration of the order on May 14, 2018, and declined to extend the stay 

requested by Toyota beyond today, May 18, 2018. MR380-386, 565, 574. 

Toyota respectfully requests that this Court enter a stay until this original 

proceeding is finally decided. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.10(a). Toyota attaches a 

proposed order to this Motion. 

The temporary relief requested by Toyota is necessary to preserve this Court’s 

jurisdiction to address the important issues raised in Toyota’s mandamus petition, 

which is being filed concurrently with this motion. This case involves the discovery 

of electronically stored information—an area the Texas Supreme Court has warned 

is particularly susceptible to invasive, overbroad discovery requests. Weekley 

Homes, 295 S.W.3d at 316, 317. In particular, it involves ordering the producing 

party to allow the requesting party direct access to its information databases—a 

drastic measure the Texas Supreme Court has held cannot be allowed unless the 

requesting party makes an evidentiary showing that the producing party “defaulted 
5 

in its obligations to search its own records.” Weekley Homes, 295 S.W.3d at 309. 

Emergency relief is needed because without it, Plaintiffs will gain what is 

tantamount to direct access to Toyota’s information databases—a grave intrusion 

that will be impossible to undo once it occurs and would effectively insulate the trial 

court’s order from meaningful appellate review. MR586. Emergency relief is 

therefore necessary and appropriate not only to prevent irreparable harm to Toyota, 

but also to protect this Court’s jurisdiction to review the order at issue. At the same 

time, the requested stay will cause little, if any, harm to the Real Parties in Interest. 

This Court entered a stay on virtually indistinguishable facts in In re VERP 

Inv., LLC, 457 S.W.3d 255 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2015, orig. proceeding), when it 

granted VERP’s emergency motion to stay an order that was entered by the 

Respondent here and similarly allowed direct access in violation of Weekley Homes. 

In re VERP, No. 05-15-00023-CV, Tex. App.—Dallas 2015, orig. proceeding, (Jan. 

9, 2015 Order). The Court later conditionally granted VERP’s petition. 457 S.W.3d 

at 260. Just as it was in VERP, a stay is warranted here, as well. 

For all these reasons, Relators pray that this Court grant their Emergency 

Motion for Temporary Relief and stay Respondent’s order until Toyota’s mandamus 

petition is resolved. 
6 

Dated: May 21, 2018 

James W. Halbrooks, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 24045354 

James.Halbrooks@bowmanand 

brooke.com 

Suzanne H. Swaner 

Texas Bar No. 90001631 

Suzanne.Swaner@bowmanand 

brooke.com 

BOWMAN AND BROOKE LLP 

5830 Granite Park, Suite 1000 

Plano, Texas 75024 

T. 972.616.1700 

F. 972.616.1701 

Victor Vital 

Texas Bar No. 00794798 

victor.vital@btlaw.com 

Elizabeth Brandon 

Texas Bar No. 24049580 

ebrandon@btlaw.com 

BARNES & THORNBURG LLP 

2100 McKinney Ave, Suite 1250 

T. 214.258.4200 

F. 214.258.4199 

Respectfully submitted, 

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP 

/s/ Allyson N. Ho 

Allyson N. Ho 

Texas Bar No. 24033667 

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP

1717 Main Street, Suite 3200 

Dallas, Texas 75201 

allyson.ho@morganlewis.com 

T. 214.466.4000 

F. 214.466.4001 

Winstol D. Carter, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 03932950

winn.carter@morganlewis.com 

Claire Swift Kugler 

Texas Bar No. 00797530 

claire.kugler@morganlewis.com 

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP

1000 Louisiana, Suite 4000 

Houston, Texas 77002 

T. 713.890.5000 

F. 713.890.5001 
7 

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

As required by Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 52.10(a), I certify that I 

have notified counsel for all parties that the foregoing motion would be filed by 

expedited means—i.e., by email or telephone, on May 21, 2018. 

 /s/ Allyson N. Ho 

Allyson N. Ho 
8 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

As required by Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 6.3 and 9.5(b), (d), (e), 

and 52.7(c), I certify that a copy of the foregoing motion was served on all parties 

and counsel by email or fax on May 21, 2018: 

Frank L. Branson 

Texas Bar No. 02899000 

Eric T. Stahl 

Texas Bar No. 00794685 

Eugene A. “Chip” Brooker, Jr. 

Texas Bar No. 24045558 

THE LAW OFFICES OF FRANK L.

BRANSON, P.C. 

Highland Park Place 

4514 Cole Avenue, 18th Floor 

Dallas, Texas 75205 

T. 214.522.0200 

F. 214.521.5485 

Counsel for Plaintiffs/Real 

Parties in Interest 

Jonathan Manning 

Texas Bar No. 12947200 

LAW OFFICES OF GALLERSON & YATES

2110 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 200 

Irving, Texas 75038 

T. 972.580.1249 F. 855.614.6695 

Liberty Mutual 

Counsel for Defendants Michael

Steven Mummaw and Mark Howell 

The Honorable Dale Tillery 

Judge, 134th District Court of Dallas 

County, Texas 

George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Bdg. 

600 Commerce Street 

Dallas, Texas 75202 

Respondent 

 /s/ Allyson N. Ho 

Allyson N. Ho