Opinion
01-21-00588-CV
01-25-2022
R. WAYNE JOHNSON, Appellant v. DALE WAINWRIGHT, PATRICK O'DANIEL, GREG ABBOTT, BRIAN COLLIER, MATT GREER, NANCY JUREN, KEN PAXTON, AND TEXAS BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES, Appellees
On Appeal from the 239th District Court Brazoria County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 113787-CV
Panel consists of Justices Hightower, Countiss, and Guerra.MEMORANDUM OPINION
PER CURIAM
Appellant, R. Wayne Johnson, incarcerated and acting pro se, attempts to appeal from the trial court's October 7, 2021 order of dismissal. We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Appellant has been declared a vexatious litigant and is the subject of three pre-filing orders, prohibiting him from filing, pro se, new litigation without seeking the permission of an appropriate local administrative judge. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. §§ 11.101, 11.102. The most recent pre-filing order was signed by a Travis County district court in Johnson v. Bell, No. D-1-GN10-001424 (345th Dist. Ct., Travis County, Tex., Aug. 26, 2010). See Office of Court Administration, List of Vexatious Litigants Subject to a Pre-Filing Order, https://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-data/vexatious-litigants/ (last visited Jan. 18, 2022); see also Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 11.104(b) (requiring Office of Court Administration to maintain and post list of vexatious litigants on agency's website); Douglas v. Porter, No. 14-10-00055-CV, 2011 WL 1601292, at *1 n.2 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] Apr. 26, 2011, pet. denied) (mem. op.) ("A court may . . . take judicial notice of a prior finding that [a party] is a vexatious litigant.").
The Clerk of this Court may not file an appeal presented by a vexatious litigant subject to a pre-filing order unless the litigant first obtains an order from the appropriate local administrative judge permitting the filing or the appeal is from a pre-filing order designating the person a vexatious litigant. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 11.103(a), (d). Appellant is not appealing from a pre-filing order designating him a vexatious litigant. See id. § 11.103(d). Thus, appellant may not proceed with his appeal unless the appropriate local administrative judge permitted his filing. See id. § 11.103(a).
On December 23, 2021, the Clerk of this Court notified appellant that this appeal was subject to dismissal unless he responded within ten days with proof that, before filing his appeal, he obtained an order from the appropriate local administrative judge permitting his appeal. In response to the notice, appellant did not produce an order permitting the filing of his appeal or otherwise adequately respond. Additionally, the clerk's record is devoid of any order permitting the filing of this appeal.
Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. See id. § 11.1035(b); Tex.R.App.P. 42.3(a); Johnson v. Parker, No. 03-19-00067-CV, 2019 WL 3922908, at *1 (Tex. App.-Austin Aug. 20, 2019, no pet.) (mem. op.) (dismissing vexatious litigant's appeal in absence of order from local administrative judge permitting filing of appeal); Johnson v. Hughey, No. 06-12-00079-CV, 2012 WL 4761546, at *1 (Tex. App.-Texarkana Oct. 5, 2012, no pet.) (mem. op.) (same). All pending motions are dismissed as moot.