Court Opinion

ID: 9948869
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-08 08:14:51.916781+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:26:12.250938
License: Public Domain

In The

                             Court of Appeals

                  Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

                            __________________

                            NO. 09-21-00180-CV
                            __________________

  SOUTHERN LUXURY MOTORCARS, LLC, D/B/A CRAVE LUXURY
          AUTO, AND ANDREW POWERS, Appellants

                                      V.

    KARL STOMBERG A/K/A KARL C. STOMBERG A/K/A KARL
  CHRISTOPHER STOMBERG, KRISTIN STOMBERG, MATTHEW
  STOMBERG, SYDNEY WALSH, WILLIAM P. REID, 54 DYER, L.P.,
ZELMA REID, PATRICK KELLY, PATRICK KELLY HOLDINGS LLC,
EPK HOLDINGS, LP, EPK MANAGEMENT, INC., FINIS E. COWAN III,
        ESQUIRE, AND FINIS COWAN INC. PC, Appellees

__________________________________________________________________

                On Appeal from the 284th District Court
                     Montgomery County, Texas
                   Trial Cause No. 20-09-10625-CV
__________________________________________________________________

                       MEMORANDUM OPINION

     On June 23, 2021, Andrew Powers, individually and derivatively on behalf of

Southern Luxury Motorcars, LLC d/b/a Crave Luxury Auto, filed a notice of

accelerated appeal from orders granting the special appearances of Matthew

Stomberg and Sydney Walsh in Trial Cause Number 20-09-10625-CV. We received

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a notice of bankruptcy for Southern Luxury Motorcars, LLC, and abated the appeal.

See Tex. R. App. P. 8.

         On December 20, 2023, Appellees William P. Reid, Zelma Reid, and 54 Dyer,

L.P. filed a motion to reinstate the accelerated appeal and dismiss the appeal as moot.

Appellees contend that Appellants claims against Matthew Stomberg and Sydney

Walsh are property of the bankruptcy estate, the bankruptcy estate did not assert any

claims against Sydney Walsh in the bankruptcy court, and settled and dismissed its

claims against Matthew Stomberg. Appellees contend there is no longer a justiciable

controversy at issue in this accelerated appeal. No party responded to the suggestion

of mootness.

         We sent a letter to all parties requesting the parties to state their position on

whether this action is stayed by an automatic stay in the Bankruptcy, and we notified

the parties of our intention to reinstate the appeal, grant the motion to dismiss, and

dismiss this case as moot. We also sent a copy of our letter to the Bankruptcy

Trustee, by sending a copy to the attorney for the Bankruptcy Trustee who is listed

on the November 3, 2023, Joint Stipulation of Dismissal of Trustee’s Claims against

Stomberg Defendants, signed by the attorneys and the Judge of the Bankruptcy

Court.

         We received a response from Appellees, William P. Reid, Zelma Reid and 54

Dyer, L.P. (hereinafter “Reid and 54 Dyer”) to our letter requesting that the parties

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state their position on whether this action is stayed by an automatic stay in the

Bankruptcy. In their response, Reid and 54 Dyer argue the bankruptcy stay no longer

stays this appeal and Appellees contend the appeal should be reinstated and

dismissed as moot.

      We hereby reinstate the appeal, we grant the motion to dismiss the appeal, and

we dismiss the appeal as moot. See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f).

      APPEAL DISMISSED.

                                                         PER CURIAM

Submitted on March 6, 2024
Opinion Delivered March 7, 2024

Before Golemon, C.J., Horton and Johnson, JJ.

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