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NO. 07-11-00066-CV
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE
SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
AT
AMARILLO
PANEL E
JULY
19, 2011
IN RE MICHAEL ROCKAFELLOW AND MTBC, LTD., RELATORS
Before HANCOCK
and PIRTLE, JJ., and BOYD, S.J.[1]
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS
Relators, Michael Rockafellow and
MTBC, Inc., have filed their petition for writ of mandamus, asking this Court
to direct the Respondent, the Honorable Les Hatch of the 237th District Court
of Lubbock County, to vacate the order of January 21, 2011, authorizing the
pre-suit deposition of Rockafellow by real party in
interest, SalonQuest, L.L.C., and disclosure of
documents identifying MTBC's supplier of SalonQuest
products. We will conditionally issue a
writ of mandamus so directing.
Factual and Procedural History
On
January 24, 2011, Rockafellow and MTBC filed a notice
of appeal from the trial court's order authorizing SalonQuest's
pre-suit deposition of Rockafellow, president of
MTBC, and disclosure of documents related to MTBC's acquisition of SalonQuest's hair care products. See Tex.
R. Civ. P. 202. Because SalonQuest's petition indicated that neither Rockafellow nor MTBC were anticipated defendants in SalonQuest's contemplated suit related to the unauthorized
distribution of SalonQuest's hair care products, that
appeal was docketed as a regular appeal under cause number 07-11-00022-CV. However, SalonQuest
amended its petition to indicate that it did, in fact, anticipate bringing
various claims against MTBC. As a
result, we dismissed that appeal for want of jurisdiction. In re Petition of SalonQuest,
Inc., No. 07-11-00022-CV, 2011 Tex. App. LEXIS 1535 (Tex.App. - Amarillo
Mar. 2, 2011, no pet.); see In re Jorden,
249 S.W.3d 416, 419 (Tex. 2008) (orig. proceeding); Thomas v. Fitzgerald,
166 S.W.3d 746, 747 (Tex.App. - Waco 2005, no pet.).
On
February 10 and in response to SalonQuest's
amendment, Rockafellow and MTBC filed their Emergency
Motion for Stay of Deposition and Production of Documents. In their motion, they again sought review of
the trial court's order authorizing pre-suit deposition of Rockafellow. At this point, Rockafellow
and MTBC were no longer third parties to the contemplated litigation and were now "anticipated defendant[s]." See In re Jorden,
249 S.W.3d at 419.
In
light of their status as anticipated defendants, mandamus