Opinion
NO. 14-17-00979-CV
01-04-2018
IN RE MARY ANN ROSER, Relator
ORIGNAL PROCEEDING WRIT OF MANDAMUS
215th District Court Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 2014-66926
ORDER
Relator Mary Ann Roser filed a petition for writ of mandamus in this court in cause number 14-16-00065-CV, asking that this court compel the Honorable Elaine Palmer, presiding judge of the 215th District Court of Harris County, to set aside the January 12, 2016 order granting the motion filed by real party in interest Dr. Joel Joselevitz to compel Roser's deposition. See In re Roser, No. 14-16-00065-CV, 2016 WL 2605686, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] May 5, 2016, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.).
Joselevitz sued Carol Roane for breach of a settlement agreement for her statements made to Roser, a journalist, who authored an article that concerned, in part, Joselevitz. The article was published in the Austin American-Statesman. Id. Joselevitz also sued Cox Media Group, LLC, which owns the Austin American-Statesman, for defamation. Id. Joselevitz seeks to take Roser's deposition in connection with his claims against Roane and Cox Media. Id.
Cox Media filed a motion to dismiss Joselevitz's claims against it under the Texas Citizen's Participation Act. Id. (citing Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 27.003 (West 2015)). Cox Media's motion to dismiss was denied by operation of law on April 4, 2016, and Cox Media appealed the ruling to this court. See Cox Media Grp., LLC v. Joselevitz, 524 S.W.3d 850, 858 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2017, no pet.).
The trial court's proceedings, including all discovery and Roser's deposition, were stayed pending resolution of the interlocutory appeal. See Roser, 2016 WL 2605686, at *1 (citing Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(b) (West Supp. 2015)). Accordingly, we denied Roser's petition for writ of mandamus without prejudice to refiling upon disposition of the appeal of the ruling on Cox Media's motion to dismiss. See Roser, 2016 WL 2605686, at*1. We issued, on May 5, 2016, an opinion reversing the denial of Cox Media's motion to dismiss and remanded to the trial court to award reasonable attorney's fees, costs, or expenses; and (2) impose sanctions, if any. See Cox Media Grp., 524 S.W.3d at 865-66.
On December 12, 2017, Roser filed a motion to reinstate the mandamus proceeding, cause number 14-16-00065-CV. This court no longer has plenary power to reinstate cause number 14-16-00065-CV. See Tex. R. App. P. 19.1(a) (providing that the court of appeals' plenary power over its judgment expires "60 days after judgment if no timely filed motion for rehearing or en banc consideration, or timely filed motion to extend time to file such motion, is then pending"). We will consider the motion to reinstate as a new petition for writ of mandamus and assign the new mandamus proceeding cause number 14-17-00979-CV, styled In re Mary Ann Roser. We order all documents filed in cause number 14-16-00065-CV transferred to cause number 14-17-00979-CV. Joselevitz may file a new response to the petition for writ of mandamus on or before January 18, 2018.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Frost and Justices Boyce and Wise.