Opinion
NO. 03-16-00042-CV
02-25-2016
Najib Kamil Bey, Appellant v. VRM (Vendor Resource Management), duly authorized agent for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Appellee
FROM THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 1 OF BELL COUNTY
NO. 83,087, HONORABLE JEANNE PARKER, JUDGE PRESIDINGMEMORANDUM OPINION
In this forcible-detainer action, appellee VRM (Vendor Resource Management), duly authorized agent for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal as moot. VRM states that appellant Najib Kamil Bey failed to supersede the judgment, a writ of possession was issued, and VRM gained possession of the property on or around February 8, 2016. See Tex. Prop. Code § 24.007.
"The only issue in an action for forcible detainer is the right to actual possession of the premises, and the merits of title shall not be adjudicated." Wilhelm v. Federal Nat'l Mortg. Ass'n, 349 S.W.3d 766, 768 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2011, no pet.) (citing Marshall v. Housing Auth. of City of San Antonio, 198 S.W.3d 782, 785 (Tex. 2006)); see Tex. R. Civ. P. 510. Although the failure to supersede a forcible-detainer judgment does not divest a defendant of the right to appeal when the defendant is no longer in possession of the premises, an appeal from the judgment in that case is moot unless the defendant asserts a "potentially meritorious claim of right to current, actual possession." Marshall, 198 S.W.3d at 787; Wilhelm, 349 S.W.3d at 768.
On February 11, 2016, the clerk of this Court requested a response from Bey by February 22, 2016, to VRM's motion to dismiss Bey's appeal as moot. Bey has not filed a response and, therefore, has failed to assert a potentially meritorious claim of right to current, actual possession. See Marshall, 198 S.W.3d at 787; Wilhelm, 349 S.W.3d at 768. Accordingly, we grant the motion and dismiss the appeal as moot
/s/_________
Melissa Goodwin, Justice Before Justices Puryear, Goodwin, and Field Dismissed as Moot Filed: February 25, 2016