Court Opinion

ID: 9395116
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-17 06:09:08.438558+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:05.532212
License: Public Domain

DISMISS and Opinion Filed May 11, 2023

                                    S  In The
                            Court of Appeals
                     Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
                               No. 05-23-00018-CV

                 HALFF ASSOCIATES, INC., Appellant
                              V.
              AECOM TECHNICAL SERVICES, INC., Appellee

               On Appeal from the 160th Judicial District Court
                            Dallas County, Texas
                    Trial Court Cause No. DC-22-13917

                        MEMORANDUM OPINION
      Before Chief Justice Burns, Justice Molberg, and Justice Pedersen, III
                         Opinion by Chief Justice Burns
      Appellant appeals from the trial court’s December 15, 2022 interlocutory

order denying its motion to dismiss appellee’s third-party claims against it for

failure to timely file a certificate of merit. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN.

§ 150.002(f) (order denying or granting motion to dismiss for failure to file

certificate of merit is subject to interlocutory appeal). Subsequently, appellee filed

a motion in the trial court requesting additional time to file a certificate of merit,

and appellant filed a supplemental motion to dismiss for lack of a timely filed

certificate of merit. On April 7, 2023, the trial court signed an order denying
appellee’s motion for additional time to file a certificate of merit and granting

appellant’s supplemental motion to dismiss. Appellee has appealed this order.1

          Because it appeared the trial court’s April 7th order mooted this appeal, we

directed appellant to show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed. See In

re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., 166 S.W.3d 732, 737 (Tex. 2005) (case becomes

moot if controversy ceases to exist between parties at any stage of legal

proceedings); Isola v. Polk, No. 05-21-00547-CV, 2022 WL 1438946, at *1 (Tex.

App.—Dallas May 6, 2022, no pet.) (appellate court lacks jurisdiction over moot

controversies). In response, appellant argues this appeal is moot only if this Court

affirms the April 7th order that is the subject of the appeal filed by appellee. We

disagree. The April 7th order superseded the December 15th order which is the

subject of this appeal. See In re Vaishangi, Inc., 442 S.W.3d 256, 260 (Tex. 2014)

(later judgment supersedes a prior one).                  Thus, regardless of how this Court

resolves appellee’s appeal of the trial court’s April 7th order, the appeal of the

December 15th order is moot. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for want of

jurisdiction. TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a).

                                                         /Robert D. Burns, III/
                                                         ROBERT D. BURNS, III
                                                         CHIEF JUSTICE
230018F.P05

1
    Appellee’s interlocutory appeal is docketed as appellate cause number 05-23-00400-CV.

                                                   –2–
                                 S
                          Court of Appeals
                   Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
                                JUDGMENT

HALFF ASSOCIATES, INC.,                     On Appeal from the 160th Judicial
Appellant                                   District Court, Dallas County, Texas
                                            Trial Court Cause No. DC-22-13917.
No. 05-23-00018-CV        V.                Opinion delivered by Chief Justice
                                            Burns. Justices Molberg and Pedersen,
AECOM TECHNICAL SERVICES,                   III participating.
INC., Appellee

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

     It is ORDERED that the parties’ bear their own costs of this appeal.

Judgment entered May 11, 2023

                                      –3–