Opinion
01-19-00719-CV
08-12-2021
ALI YAZDCHI, Appellant v. THE COHEN LAW FIRM, A/K/A GARY COHEN, Appellee
On Appeal from the 11th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2016-82012
Panel consists of Justices Goodman, Landau, and Countiss.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
PER CURIAM.
Ali Yazdchi, proceeding pro se, attempts to appeal the trial court's final judgment signed on June 21, 2019 denying all claims and dismissing all causes-of-action asserted by Yazdchi. We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
The Office of Court Administration website lists all vexatious litigants subject to prefiling orders. See Office of Court Administration, List of Vexatious Litigants Subject to Prefiling Order, https://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-data/vexatious-litigants/ (list last updated August 2, 2021); see also TEX. CIV. PRAC. &REM. CODE § 11.104(b) (requiring office of court administration to maintain list and post list of vexatious litigants on agency's website). Yazdchi is one such litigant. This list contains three pre-filing orders concerning Yazdchi: (1) one signed on April 28, 2015 in Ali Yazdchi v. Mike Jones and Sam Adamo, Cause No. 2015-05013, in the 11th District Court of Harris County; (2) another signed on July 10, 2015, with an amended order signed January 15, 2016, in Ali Yazdchi v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A., Cause No. 2015-11585 in the 215th District Court of Harris County; and (3) another signed on July 15, 2015, in Ali Yazdchi v. BBVA Compass Bank, in Cause No. 201505657, in the 151st District Court in Harris County. See Office of Court Administration, List of Vexatious Litigants Subject to Pre-Filing Orders under Section 11.101, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, available at:
https://www.txcourts.gov/media/950960/Ali-Yazdchi-Case-No-2015-05013.pdf; https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1278447/Ali-Yazdchi-Case-No-2015-11585-01_15_2016.pdf; https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1029372/Ali-Yazdchi-Case-No-2015-05657.pdfSee also Douglas v. Am. Title Co., 196 S.W.3d 876, 878 n.2 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, no pet.) (taking judicial notice of Harris County record of vexatious litigants).
The Clerk of this Court may not file an appeal presented by a vexatious litigant subject to a prefiling order unless (1) the litigant first obtains an order from the local administrative judge permitting the filing or (2) the appeal is from a prefiling order designating the person a vexatious litigant. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. &REM. CODE § 11.103(a), (d). Yazdchi's appeal is not an appeal from the prefiling order designating him a vexatious litigant. Thus, Yazdchi may not proceed with his appeal unless the local administrative judge permitted this filing.
This Court issued a notice to Yazdchi's advising him that we would dismiss his appeal unless he responded within ten days with proof that, before filing the appeal, he had obtained an order from the local administrative judge permitting the appeal. Yazdchi did not adequately respond to the notice and the record is devoid of any order permitting the filing of the appeal.
Yazdchi filed a response falsely claiming that he received authorization from the local administrative judge to file the appeal. Yazdchi attached a letter signed by the local administrative judge in 2017 regarding an unrelated case in which the administrative judge authorized an appeal because the underlying lawsuit had been filed before the vexatious litigant orders were issued against Yazdchi in 2015. Here, the lawsuit in the underlying case was filed in November 2016-after Yazdchi was declared a vexatious litigant-and Yazdchi has received no authorization to file this appeal.
Because Yazdchi has been declared a vexatious litigant and did not obtain an order from the appropriate local administrative judge permitting the filing of his pro se notice of appeal, we must dismiss the appeal. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. &REM. CODE § 11.103(a); Kastner v. Fulco, No. 01-13-00100-CV, 2013 WL 6157392, at *1-2 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] Nov. 21, 2013, no pet.) (dismissing appeal after providing notice of intent to dismiss because vexatious litigant appellant failed to provide copy of order permitting filing of appeal); McCray v. Prudential Ins., No. 14-12-00860-CV, 2012 WL 5586804, at *1 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] Nov. 15, 2012, no pet.) (same).
Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a); 43.2(f). We dismiss any pending motions as moot.