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NO. 03-16-00004-CV

IN THE

THIRD COURT OF APPEALS

AUSTIN, TEXAS

_______________________________________ 

CITY OF AUSTIN,

 Appellant, 

V. 

NATIONAL MEDIA CORPORATION AND ACME PARTNERSHIP, L.P.,

 Appellees.

_______________________________________ 

APPELLANT’S AMENDED STATUS REPORT

________________________________________ 

TO THE HONORABLE THIRD COURT OF APPEALS: 

Per the Court’s August 31, 2016 memorandum opinion, Appellant City of 

Austin files its status report on abatement, which expires September 28, 2016. 

Appellees do not agree with the City’s report.

The City of Austin no longer seeks abatement of its interlocutory appeal filed 

on January 5, 2016. Abatement was granted on May 12, 2016, the Court has already 

granted three extensions of the abatement, further abatement is not warranted, and 

further delay is contrary to the City’s right to an accelerated appeal. See Tex. Civ. 

Prac. & Rem. Code, § 51.014(a)(8). 

Nine months have lapsed since the City filed its notice of interlocutory appeal 

from the trial court’s denial of the City’s plea to the jurisdiction of Appellees’ Texas 

ACCEPTED

03-16-00004-CV

12961840

THIRD COURT OF APPEALS

AUSTIN, TEXAS

9/28/2016 5:33:42 PM

JEFFREY D. KYLE

CLERK

 FILED IN 3rd COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 9/28/2016 5:33:42 PM JEFFREY D. KYLE Clerk
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Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act (“UDJA”) and state and federal takings claims 

under the Texas and United States Constitutions. Interlocutory appeal was abated 

to allow the case to proceed to a bench trial on the remaining issue of damages for 

takings claims only, not equitable relief under the UDJA. A bench trial was held on 

June 1 and June 2, 2016, and after the close of evidence, the trial court took the case 

under consideration and entered a letter ruling on July 26, 2016. A final judgment

was entered on September 12, 2016. Appellees have requested Findings of Fact and 

Conclusions of Law, have stated their intent to file post-judgment motions, and also 

to appeal the damages award.

First, jurisdictional issues and governmental immunity warrant that the City 

of Austin, a governmental entity, not expend public resources unnecessarily. It is 

Appellees’ burden to overcome the threshold issues of jurisdiction and governmental

immunity, issues which should be resolved before the City incurs any further time 

and expense to fully brief the damages.

Second, an interlocutory appeal is an accelerated appeal, and the case has 

already been unnecessarily delayed for many months awaiting a resolution on 

damages, which this Court cannot address before resolving the merits of this 

interlocutory appeal. Judicial economy warrants proceeding on the merits before 

any appeal on damages is heard. Appellees’ damages appeal need not be before the 

Court for a ruling on interlocutory appeal.
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Third, Appellees’ have filed a request for findings of fact and conclusions of 

law, which extends the notice-of-appeal deadline to December, and have indicated 

other post-trial motions are to come that extend the trial court’s plenary power. 

Unless permitted to go forwarded with this interlocutory appeal, this will further 

delay resolution of the threshold jurisdiction issues until next year. 

The bench trial did not moot any issues on interlocutory appeal, and did not 

address the relief sought under the UDJA. The damages award is wholly 

independent of the merits of the interlocutory appeal, and the City requests that the 

abatement be lifted, and that it be permitted to exercise its right to an accelerated

appeal without further delay into 2017.

Dated: September 28, 2016

Respectfully submitted,

ANNE L. MORGAN, CITY ATTORNEY

MEGHAN L. RILEY, CHIEF LITIGATION

BY: /S/ Chris Edwards

Chris Edwards

Assistant City Attorney

State Bar No. 00789276

Chris.edwards@austintexas.gov

Andralee Cain Lloyd

Assistant City Attorney

State Bar No. 24071577

Andralee.lloyd@austintexas.gov

City of Austin-Law Department

P. O. Box 1546

Austin, Texas 78767-1546

Telephone: (512) 974-2419
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Facsimile: (512) 974-1311

COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

I hereby certify that on September 27, 2016, I conferred with counsel for 

Plaintiffs - Appellees on the relief requested herein and they are opposed. 

/s/ Andralee Cain Lloyd

ANDRALEE CAIN LLOYD

COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that I served a copy of this notice on counsel of record 

electronically, in accordance with the Court’s rules on electronic filing, on

September 28, 2016, as listed below:

Via E-Service to:

Eric B. Storm

The Storm Law Firm

11420 Bee Caves Rd., Suite A-100

Austin, TX 78738

Kurt Kuhn

KUHN HOBBS PLLC

3307 Northland Drive, Suite 310

Austin, Texas 78731

COUNSEL FOR APPELLEES

/s/ Chris Edwards

CHRIS EDWARDS

COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT