Opinion
No. 10-19-00340-CV
12-11-2019
George P. BUSH, General Land Commissioner, TRUSTEE FOR the FOUNDATION SCHOOL FUND, Appellant v. Samuel Ray HINES, Appellee
Jay B. Goss, Bruchez, Goss Thornton Meronoff & Briers PC, Bryan, Bill Youngkin, Youngkin & Doss, PLLC, Bryan, Karl C. Hoppess, Karl C. Hoppess & Associates PC, Houston, for Appellee Hines, Samuel Ray. Jeffrey C. Mateer, Austin, W. Ken Paxton Jr., Texas Attorney General, Austin,Joshua Godbey, Austin, Darren Lee McCarty, Joshua Eames-Cepero, Office of the Attorney General, Austin, for Appellant. Lesli Ginn, Office of the Attorney General, Austin, for Appellee The State of Texas.
Jay B. Goss, Bruchez, Goss Thornton Meronoff & Briers PC, Bryan, Bill Youngkin, Youngkin & Doss, PLLC, Bryan, Karl C. Hoppess, Karl C. Hoppess & Associates PC, Houston, for Appellee Hines, Samuel Ray.
Jeffrey C. Mateer, Austin, W. Ken Paxton Jr., Texas Attorney General, Austin,Joshua Godbey, Austin, Darren Lee McCarty, Joshua Eames-Cepero, Office of the Attorney General, Austin, for Appellant.
Lesli Ginn, Office of the Attorney General, Austin, for Appellee The State of Texas.
Before Chief Justice Gray, Justice Davis, and Justice Neill
OPINION
TOM GRAY, Chief Justice
Appellant in this proceeding is George P. Bush in his capacity as General Land Commissioner and Trustee for the Foundation School Fund. The appeal is from the denial of Appellant's plea to the jurisdiction.
A notice of non-suit was filed by the Petitioner/Plaintiff/Appellee in the trial court proceeding on October 3, 2019. The notice states:
While Petitioners have not asserted any cause of action against Bush and have not designated him as a defendant in any manner, at the request of the State of Texas and Bush, Petitioners file this notice of nonsuit as to Bush and hereby nonsuit all matters set forth in Petitioners' Second Amended Petition to Award Title and Escheat related to Bush only. Petitioners will continue to prosecute all other matters set forth in that petition and are filing a Third Amended Petition to remove Bush from all matters.
A nonsuit is effective when filed. Univ. of Tex. Med. Branch at Galveston v. Estate of Blackmon , 195 S.W.3d 98, 100 (Tex. 2006). Even the automatic stay of section 51.014(b) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code that arises from the filing of a notice of appeal from the denial of a plea to the jurisdiction does not defeat the immediate effect of a nonsuit at the moment the notice of nonsuit was filed. See id. (matter was pending interlocutory appeal from a pretrial plea to the jurisdiction). Thus, Appellant is no longer, if he ever had been, a party to the trial court proceeding. Any doubt about whether Appellant remained a party against whom relief was requested has been removed by the filing of the Third Amended Petition to Award Title and Escheat on October 3, 2019.
Because Appellant is no longer a party in the proceeding pending in the trial court, Appellant has no standing to pursue this interlocutory appeal of the denial of his plea to the jurisdiction. See id. at 101. Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed.