Opinion
No. 05-19-01455-CV
02-24-2020
VENATOR MATERIALS PLC, SIMON TURNER, KURT D. OGDEN, STEPHEN IBBOTSON, RUSS R. STOLLE, HUNTSMAN CORPORATION, HUNTSMAN INTERNATIONAL LLC, HUNTSMAN (HOLDINGS) NETHERLANDS B.V., Appellants v. MACOMB COUNTY EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND FIREMEN'S RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF ST. LOUIS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 134th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. DC-19-02030
ORDER
This is an appeal from the trial court's order denying appellants' motion to dismiss under the Texas Citizens' Participation Act (TCPA). The appellate record has been filed and appellants' brief is due February 21, 2020.
By separate appeal, appellants challenged the trial court's order denying their pleas to the jurisdiction and motions to transfer venue. That appeal was docketed 05-19-01177-CV ("Related Appeal") and was resolved in appellants' favor, with the Court dismissing for lack of personal jurisdiction appellees' claims against appellants Venator Materials PLC, Simon Turner, Kurt Ogden, Stephen Ibbotson, and Russ Stolle (collectively, the "Venator Appellants") and transferring appellees' claims against appellants Huntsman Corporation, Huntsman International LLC, and Huntsman (Holdings) Netherlands B.V. (collectively, the "Huntsman Appellants") to Montgomery County. See Venator Materials PLC v. Macomb Cty. Emp. Ret. Sys., No. 05-19-01177-CV, 2020 WL 289296, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Jan. 21, 2020), no pet. h.) (mem. op.).
Asserting that upon issuance of the mandate in the Related Appeal, appellees' claims against the Venator Appellants will be dismissed, rendering moot Venator Appellants' TCPA appeal, and the claims against the Huntsman Appellants will be transferred to Montgomery County, resulting in this Court no longer having jurisdiction over the Huntsman Appellants TCPA appeal, the Venator and Huntsman appellants have filed a motion to abate the appeal. According to the motion, "[o]n or about the date when the mandate issues," the Huntsman Appellants intend to file a motion requesting the Texas Supreme Court transfer their TCPA appeal to the Beaumont Court of Appeals which has jurisdiction over Montgomery County. We rule as follows.
We GRANT the motion. To ensure proper disposition of this appeal, we ORDER, within fifteen days of the issuance of the mandate in the Related Appeal, the Venator Appellants to file a motion to dismiss their TCPA appeal and the Huntsman Appellants to file, in accordance with the procedure stated in Miles v. Ford Motor Co., 914 S.W.2d 135, 137 n.2 (Tex. 1995), their motion to transfer.
We ABATE the appeal pending further order of the Court.
/s/ ROBERT D. BURNS, III
CHIEF JUSTICE