Opinion
NUMBER 13-19-00643-CV
03-05-2020
IN RE FRAUDULENT HOSPITAL LIEN LITIGATION
On appeal from MDL No. 15-0360-H in the 444th District Court of Cameron County, Texas.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Longoria and Hinojosa
Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Contreras
MedData d/b/a Alegis Revenue Group, L.L.C. (MedData) filed this notice of appeal from MDL No. 15-0360-H, In re Fraudulent Hospital Lien Litigation, pending in the 444th District Court of Cameron County, Texas. MedData alleged that the judge of the MDL pretrial court had not ruled on MedData's motion to dismiss filed pursuant to the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA) within the statutory deadline, and accordingly, its motion to dismiss was "considered to have been denied by operation of law." See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. §§ 27.005(a), 27.008(a). This appeal ensued.
This case originated in trial court cause number C-2467-19-D in the 206th District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas, which was transferred to MDL No. 15-0360-H in the 444th District Court of Cameron County, Texas, for consolidated pretrial proceedings.
On January 9, 2020, MedData filed a "Motion to Dismiss Appeal as Premature." Without "abandoning its position that each case in an MDL proceeding is distinct," MedData asserted that its attempted interlocutory appeal should be dismissed on grounds that the underlying MDL proceedings are stayed, and thus its notice of appeal was premature. MedData's motion to dismiss is opposed by appellees, Jessica Alarcon, et al., however, more than ten days have passed since the motion to dismiss was filed and appellees have not filed a response or other pleading in opposition to MedData's motion. See TEX. R. APP. P. 10.1(a)(5), 10.1(b), 10.3(a).
The appellees include: Jessica Alarcon, James Archer, Elsa Avila, Stacy Barraz, Rosaura Barrera, Placida Bermea, Jose Cantu, Maria Cepeda, Alida Chicas, Andrea Cordova, Dino Delama, Hugo Delgado, Elma Espinoza, Manuela Foster, Gladis Garces, Adrjan Garcia, Arturo Garcia, Ruben Gonzalez, Leticia Gurrola, Heyoung Hays, Karen Hernandez, Karla Jimenez Gomez, Lindsey Maldonado, Pedro Maldonado, Alejandro Marroquin, Jose Martinez, Tomasa Mata, Maria Miller, Jorge Miramontes, Inocencia Mora, Lorenzo Olguin, Hector Ortiz, Carlos Pena, Aileen Ramirez, Elogio Reynoso, Eulogio Reynoso, Maria Rivera, Margarita Rodriguez, Hector A. Salinas, Sandra Scott, Adriana Smith, Jose Suarez, Martha Suarez, Ronald Templin, Isidora Trevino, Xavier Trevino, Tiffany Zepeda, Jose Zuniga, and Maria Zuniga.
The Court, having examined and fully considered the motion to dismiss and the applicable law, is of the opinion that the appeal should be dismissed for the reasons expressed in our opinion in In re Fraudulent Hospital Lien Litigation, No. 13-19-00627-CV, 2020 WL ___ (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi-Edinburg Mar. 5, 2020, no pet. h.) (mem. op.), available at http://www.search.txcourts.gov/case.aspx?cn=13-19-00627-CV. Accordingly, we grant MedData's motion to dismiss and we dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Pending motions, if any, are dismissed as moot.
DORI CONTRERAS
Chief Justice Delivered and filed the 5th day of March, 2020.