Opinion
03-23-00487-CV
11-01-2023
In re BLF LLC, Bradford W. Bayliff, and Lisa E.W. Bayliff
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM BLANCO COUNTY
Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Kelly and Theofanis
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Chari L. Kelly, Justice
This original proceeding arises out of a lawsuit filed by relators BLF LLC, Bradford W. Bayliff, and Lisa E.W. Bayliff to prevent respondent The Landing at Blanco Property Owners Association (or the POA) from selling a certain tract of common-area property, used for recreation by property owners and identified in relators' petition and described as Lot 15, of The Landing at Blanco, Blanco County, Texas, according to map or plat recorded in Volume 2, Pages 44-47, Map and Plat Records of Blanco County, Texas (hereafter, "Lot 15"). After the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the POA, relators filed a notice of appeal in this Court, and the appeal has been assigned appellate cause number 03-22-00423-CV. Relators have now filed a petition for writ of injunction, asking that we enjoin the POA from selling Lot 15 until the merits of their appeal can be fully and finally determined. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.1.
"An appellate court may issue a writ of injunction only if it is necessary to protect the Court's jurisdiction over the subject matter of a pending appeal, or to prevent an unlawful interference with the enforcement of its judgments and decrees." In re Alamo Defs. Descendants Ass'n, 619 S.W.3d 363, 367 (Tex. App -El Paso 2021, orig. proceeding); In re Memorial Park Med. Ctr., Inc., No. 03-18-00749-CV, 2018 Tex.App. LEXIS 10237, at *1-2 (Tex. App - Austin Dec. 13, 2018, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.); see Tex. Gov't Code § 22.221(a) ("Each court of appeals . . . may issue . . . all other writs necessary to enforce the jurisdiction of the court."). "It is well settled that an appellate court is authorized to protect its jurisdiction by preserving the subject matter of the appeal in order to make its decrees effective." In re Alamo Defs. Descendants Ass 'n, 619 S.W.3d at 367 (quoting In re Teague, No. 02-06-033-CV, 2006 Tex.App. LEXIS 1064, at *6-7 (Tex. App-Fort Worth Feb. 8, 2006, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.)). Because the sale of Lot 15 would moot relators' pending appeal, causing this Court to lose jurisdiction, and render our judgment ineffective, injunctive relief is proper. See In re Grossman, No. 02-17-00383-CV, 2017 Tex.App. LEXIS 11415, at *2 (Tex. App - Fort Worth Dec. 7, 2017, orig. proceeding) (concluding that writ of injunction was proper because demolition of historic building at issue would moot underlying interlocutory appeal); see also Pendleton Green Assocs. v. Anchor Savs. Bank, 520 S.W.2d 579, 582 (Tex. App- Corpus Christi 1975, no writ) (granting injunctive relief, explaining that sale of property at trustee's sale while appeal was pending would moot appeal and appellate court's "jurisdiction over the pending appeal will have been lawfully invaded and its subject matter destroyed, since there would then be no way we could enforce our judgment or decree in the event the relators should prevail").
Accordingly, we conditionally grant relators' petition for writ of injunction to preserve this court's subject-matter jurisdiction over the pending appeal and order that respondent The Landing at Blanco Property Owners Association shall not sell, convey, lease, encumber, convert from common area property to tract or lot, or otherwise dispose of any part or parcel of certain real property identified in relators' petition, described as Lot 15, of The Landing at Blanco, Blanco County, Texas, according to map or plat recorded in Volume 2, Pages 44-47, Map and Plat Records of Blanco County, Texas. A writ of injunction will issue only if the POA fails to comply with the order of this Court as set forth in this opinion.