Opinion
NO. 01-17-00590-CV
02-27-2018
ADRIENNE GALLIEN, Appellant v. WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORPORATION, AND CRISTOBAL NIÑO, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF VERONICA CASTILLO NIÑO, DECEASED, Appellees
On Appeal from the Probate Court No. 1 Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Case No. 436920
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This is an accelerated appeal from an order denying appellant Adrienne Gallien's request for a temporary injunction. Appellee Wells Fargo Bank has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. We grant the motion and dismiss the appeal.
Appellee Cristobal Niño filed an application for probate of the will of his wife Veronica Castillo Niño. Gallien opposed Niño's application for letters testamentary, claiming that certain real property had been conveyed by Niño to the Galliens. The Galliens also filed suit in district court against Wells Fargo. Soon after the district court entered a temporary injunction order halting foreclosure of the real property and ordering the parties to mediation, Gallien filed a request in the probate court for a temporary injunction to stop foreclosure and a motion to transfer the district court cause to probate court. The probate court denied the request and Gallien filed this appeal.
Wells Fargo filed a motion to dismiss this appeal, claiming that the appeal is moot because the parties settled their differences concerning the real property claims in the district court and that no justiciable controversy remains concerning the denial of the temporary injunction.
"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 is moot if there is no longer a "justiciable controversy between the parties." Heckman v. Williamson Cty., 369 S.W.3d 137, 162 (Tex. 2012). There is no justiciable controversy if our action on the merits would not affect the parties' rights. Id.
The parties settled all issues concerning the real property. The request for a temporary injunction to halt a foreclosure sale of the real property became moot once the parties settled their differences. Because the parties reached a settlement, and pursuant to that settlement, the Galliens paid an agreed-upon amount to Wells Fargo, and Wells Fargo released the lien, any issues regarding a request for an injunction to halt foreclosure became moot.
Wells Fargo's motion to dismiss is granted. This appeal is dismissed as moot. Any pending motions are dismissed as moot.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Radack and Justices Massengale and Brown.