Opinion
02-24-00121-CV
04-18-2024
Texas Farm Bureau Underwriters, a Texas Corporation, Appellant v. Guadalupe Castro, Individually, and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, Appellee
On Appeal from the 342nd District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 342-335023-22
Before Womack, Wallach, and Walker, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Dana Womack, Justice
Appellant Texas Farm Bureau Underwriters, a Texas Corporation, appealed the trial court's interlocutory order granting a motion for class certification filed by Appellee Guadalupe Castro, Individually, and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated. See Tex. Civ. Prac. &Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(a)(3). After the notice of appeal was filed, we received an order from the trial court vacating the order granting Appellee's motion for class certification. See Tex.R.App.P. 29.5 ("While an appeal from an interlocutory order is pending, the trial court retains jurisdiction of the case and . . . may make further orders, including one dissolving the order complained of on appeal.").
"Appellate courts are prohibited from deciding moot controversies." Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Jones, 1 S.W.3d 83, 86 (Tex. 1999). A case becomes moot if a justiciable controversy ceases to exist at any stage of the legal proceedings, including the appeal. In re Kellogg Brown &Root, Inc., 166 S.W.3d 732, 737 (Tex. 2005) (orig. proceeding); Williams v. Lara, 52 S.W.3d 171, 184 (Tex. 2001).
On March 21, 2024, we notified Appellant that its appeal appeared to be moot. We informed Appellant that unless it filed a response by April 1, 2024, showing grounds for continuing the appeal, we would dismiss it as moot. See Tex.R.App.P. 44.3. Appellant has not filed a response. Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal as moot. See Tex.R.App.P. 43.2(f); Alorica and Alorica, Inc. v. Jasso, No. 08-18-00158-CV, 2018 WL 6191488, at *1 (Tex. App.-El Paso Nov. 28, 2018, no pet.) (mem. op.) (dismissing appeal from interlocutory order as moot where trial court vacated interlocutory order while appeal was pending); Morris v. Madrigal, No. 13-15-00203-CV, 2015 WL 3637841, at *1 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi-Edinburg June 11, 2015, no pet.) (mem. op.) ("Because the trial court has vacated the order subject to appeal, we conclude that this appeal has been rendered moot.").