1 

### NO. 05

- 19 -0 1455 -CV

IN THE COURT OF APPE ALS FOR THE FIFTH D ISTRICT OF TEXAS IN DALLAS

VENATOR MATERIALS PLC, ET AL. , Appellant s ,

v.
MACOMB COUNTY EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM, ET AL. , Appellee s .

UNOPPOSED MOTION TO ABATE PENDING ISSUANCE OF THE

MANDATE IN A RELATED APPEAL AND SUSPEND BRIEFIN G DEADLINES

TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS :

Under Texas Rule s of Appellate Procedure 10.1 and 29.3
, Appellants 1 file this

U nopposed Motion to Abate Pending Issuance of the Mandate in a Related Appeal
and Suspend Briefing Deadlines (“Motion”) and respectfully reque st that the Court
abate this appeal pending the issuance of the mandate in Venator Materials PLC et

1 Appellants are Venator Materials PLC, Simon Turner, Stephen Ibbotson, Kurt D. Ogden, Russ R. Stolle (collecti vely, the “Venator Appellants”), Huntsman Corporation, Huntsman International LLC, and Huntsman (Holdings) Netherlands B.V. (collectively, the “Huntsman Appellants”). ACCEPTED 05-19-01455-CV FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS

DALLAS, TEXAS 2/14/2020 4:21 PM LISA MATZ CLERK2 al. v. Macomb County Emp loyees’ Retirement System et al. , No. 05

- 19

- 01177

- CV
(the “Related Appeal”) and suspend all briefing deadlines

.
I. Background. On January 21, 2020 , this Court issued its opinion in the Related Appeal
, dismissing the Venator Appellants and Underwriter Defendants 2 for lack of
jurisdiction and remand ing the case to the trial court to enter an order transferring

the remaining claims against the Huntsman Appellants to Montgomery County

.
II. Request for Abatement

. In light of the Court’s rulings that there is n o personal jurisdiction over most
of the parties to this appeal and that the remainder of the ca s e belongs in a different
venue, the Court should abate this appeal pending issuance of the mandate in the
Related Appeal. Upon issuance of the mandate, the cla ims against the Venator
Appellants will be dismissed , rendering this appeal moot as to them , and the trial

court will transfer the remaining claims against the Huntsman Appellants to
Montgomery County. See T EX

. R. A PP

. P. 18.6 ( “ The appellate cou rt’ s judgment on
an appeal from an interlocutory order takes effect when the mandate is issued. ”)

. It is Appellants’ understanding that o nce the claims against the Huntsman
Appellants are transferred to Montgomery County
, the trial court will lose

2 The Underwriter Defendants are Citigroup Global Markets Inc. , Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC. The Underwriter Defendants are no t parties to this appeal.3 jurisdicti on over the case , and as a result
, this C ourt will no longer have jurisdiction

over thi s appeal

. See T EX

. G OV ’ T C ODE § 22.220 ( “ Each court of appeals has
appellate jurisdiction of all civil cases within its district of which the district courts

or county courts have jurisdiction [.]” ) ; George v. Phillips Petroleum Co. , 976
S.W.2d 363, 364

– 65 (Tex. App.

— Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, no pet.) (“ A ppellate
court jurisdiction over the merits of a case extends no further than that of the court
from which the appeal is taken. . . . [O] nce a case is transferred

. . . the transferee
court assumes jurisdiction of the cause to the exclusion of the transferor court. ”)

.
Absent abatement , Appellants would be required to file a brief in this Court
to preserve their rights in this appeal despite the Court’s rulings that jurisdiction and

venu e are not proper. Appellants’ opening brief in this appeal is currently due
February 21, 2020; by contrast, the mandate in the Relat ed Appeal is currently

scheduled to issue on April 2, 2020

. See T EX

. R. A PP

. P. 18.1. Abatement thus
preserves Appellants’ rights without burdening this Court with repeated requests for
extension of the briefing deadlines while the parties wait for the mandate.

On or about the date when the mandate issues, t he Huntsman Appellants

intend to file a motion requesting that the Texas Supreme Court transfer the ir appeal
to the Beaumont Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Montgomery County

.
See T EX

. G OV ’ T C ODE § 73.001 (“ The supreme court may order cases t ransferred
from one court of appeals to another at any time that, in the opinion of the supreme4 court, there is good cause for the transfer. ”) ; see also Miles v. Ford Motor Co. , 914
S.W.2d 135, 137 (Tex. 1995) ( explaining the procedure for appellate venue transfer)

. Appellees have not yet taken a position on the Huntsman Appellants’ intended
motion to transfer the appeal and reserve all rights, including the right to oppose

such motion.

PRAYER
For these reasons, Appellants request that the Court grant the Motion , which

is unopposed
, and abate all proceedings in this appeal pending issuance of the
mandate in the Related Appeal and suspend all briefing deadlines pending
establishment of new briefing deadlines by the appropria te Court following the

issuance of the mandate

. 3

3 Appellees agree that the current deadline for Appellants to file an opening brief should be suspended and that Appellants do not need to file an opening brief by the current deadline or pending resolution of the Motion.5 Respectfully submitted,

/s/ David S. Coale David S. Coale, SBN 00787255 Michael K. Hurst, SBN 10316310 Andrés Correa, SBN 24076330 John R. Christian, SBN 24109727 L YNN P INKER C OX & H URST , LLP 2100 Ross Avenue, Suite 2700 Dallas, Texas 75201 214

- 981

- 3800 (phone) 214

- 981

- 3839 (fax) mhurst@lynnllp.com acorrea@lynnllp.com dcoale@lynnllp.com jchristian@lynnllp.com
Craig Smyser, SBN 18777575 Razvan Ungureanu, SBN 24085630 Eugene Zilberman, SBN 24110577 S MYSER K APLAN & V ESELKA , LLP 717 Texas Ave., Suite 2800 Houston, Texas 77002

- 2761 713

- 221

- 2300 (phone) 713

- 221

- 2320 (fax) csmyser@skv.com razvan@skv.com ezilberman@skv.com
Counsel for Appellants Venator Materials PLC, Stephen Ibbotson, Kurt D. Ogden, Russ R. Stolle, and Simon Turner /s/ R. Thaddeus Behrens R. Thaddeus Behrens, SBN 24029440 Anne M. Johnson, SBN 00794271 Daniel H. Gold, SBN 24053230 Matthew A. McGee, SBN 24062527 William D. Marsh, SBN 24092762 H AYNES AND B OONE , LLP 2323 Victory Avenue, Suite 700 Dallas, Texas 75219 (214) 651

- 5000 (phone) (214) 200

- 0886 (fax) thad.behrens@haynesboone.com anne.johnson@haynesboone.com daniel.gold@haynesboone.com matt.mcgee@haynesboone.com william.marsh@haynesboone.com
Richard A. Sayles, SBN 17697500 B RADLEY A RANT B OULT C UMMINGS , LLP 4400 Renaissance Tower 1201 Elm St. Dallas, Texas 75270 (216) 939

- 8701 (phone) (214) 939

- 8787 (fax) dsayles@bradley.com
Counsel for Appellants Huntsman Corporation, Huntsman International LLC, and Huntsman (Holdings) Netherlands B.V.6 CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE I hereby certify that on February 1 3 , 2020 , counsel for Appellee s conferred

with counsel for Appellees , who stated that Appellees do not oppose the relief sought

herein.

/s/ R. Thaddeus Behrens R. Thaddeus Behrens7 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE Undersigned counsel certifies that on February 1 4 , 2020, a true and correct
copy of this motion was served on the following counsel of record via electronic

service:

Joe Kendall K ENDALL L AW G ROUP , PLLC 3811 Turtle Creek Blvd., Suite 1450 Dallas, Texas 75219 jkendall@kendalllawgroup.com

Steven F. Hubachek (pro hac vice) R OBBINS G ELLER R UDMAN & D OWD LLP 655 West Broadway, Suite 1900 San Diego, California 92101 shubachek @rgrdlaw.com

David J. Goldsmith (pro hac vice) L ABATON S UCHAROW LL P 140 Broadway, 34th Floor New York, New York 10005 dgoldsmith @labaton.com
Counsel for Appellees Macomb County Employees’ Retirement System and Firemen’s Retirement System of St. Louis

/s/ R. Thaddeus Behrens R. Thaddeus Behrens