Opinion
02-24-00126-CV
06-20-2024
Mansfield Broad Street Neighborhood Shops by Slate, LLC; Mansfield Broad Street Retail I by Slate, LLC; Mansfield Broad Street Retail II by Slate, LLC; Mansfield Broad Street Retail III by Slate, LLC; Karim Ramji a/k/a Kris Ramji, Individually and in his capacity as Trustee of the Ramji Continuation Trust; Aequipondium Consulting & Investing, LLC; Harvest Neighborhood Shops by Slate, LLC; Smit Shah a/k/a Shah Smit, Individually and on behalf of SP Capital Investments, LLC; Slate Land & Development Co., LLC; Slate Real Estate Co., LLC; and Brandon Scott, Appellants v. RAGZ Investment, LLC and Firdoshali "Phil" Keshwani, Appellees
On Appeal from the 481st District Court Denton County, Texas Trial Court No. 24-0391-481
Before Sudderth, C.J.; Birdwell and Walker, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Wade Birdwell, Justice
Firdoshali "Phil" Keshwani and RAGZ Investment, LLC sued appellants, (1) Kris Ramji, the Keshwanis' son-in-law who was in the midst of a divorce from the Keshwanis' daughter; (2) businesses in which Ramji was involved and their members; and (3) two related individuals. The trial court granted a requested temporary restraining order and, after a hearing, granted a temporary injunction enjoining appellants and "their agents, representatives[,] and any person or entity acting or purporting to act on their behalf" from transferring or encumbering certain real property owned by MBS; from spending or disbursing assets from the sale of property owned by Harvest; generally from transferring, encumbering, loaning, secreting, or disposing of assets of MBS, Harvest, or MBS III; and from cashing checks or depositing money orders or cash "received from consumers, clients, or customers of Harvest, MBS[,] or MBS III."
RAGZ's sole owner is Nancy Keshwani, Phil's wife.
Mansfield Broad Street Neighborhood Shops by Slate, LLC (MBS); Mansfield Broad Street Retail I by Slate, LLC; Mansfield Broad Street Retail II by Slate, LLC; Mansfield Broad Street Retail III by Slate, LLC (MBS III); Aequipondium Consulting & Investing, LLC; Harvest Neighborhood Shops by Slate, LLC (Harvest); Smit Shah a/k/a Shah Smit on Behalf of SP Capital Investments, LLC; Slate Land & Development Co., LLC; and Slate Real Estate Co., LLC.
Shah, the sole manager of SP Capital Investments, LLC, which is a manager of Mansfield Broad Street Neighborhood Shops by Slate, LLC; and Brandon Scott, who Ramji allegedly represented to Keshwani would be a member of Harvest.
On appeal, appellants contend that the temporary-injunction order is void because it does not set a date certain for trial on the merits, instead containing the notation "TBD" for the date. We agree.
Rule of Civil Procedure 683 requires an order granting a temporary injunction to set the cause for a trial on the merits. Tex.R.Civ.P. 683; Armstrong-Bledsoe v. Smith, No. 2-03-323-CV, 2004 WL 362293, at *2 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth Feb. 26, 2004, no pet.) (mem. op.). This requirement--along with Rule 683's other requirements--is mandatory and must be strictly followed. Qwest Commc'ns Corp. v. AT&T Corp., 24 S.W.3d 334, 337 (Tex. 2000). An order that does not comply with Rule 683's requirements is void. See, e.g., Williams v. NE CS First Nat'l, LP, No. 02-23-00086-CV, 2023 WL 4781174, at *2-3 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth July 27, 2023, no pet.) (mem. op.).
Because the temporary-injunction order does not set a date for a trial on the merits, it is void. See Armstrong-Bledsoe, 2004 WL 362293, at *1-2. We vacate the trial court's February 29, 2024 order granting the temporary injunction.
The trial court's online docket sheet indicates that this appeal has been transferred--by the parties' agreement--to the 493rd District Court in Collin County, with the cause number 493-02291-2024. Accordingly, we do not remand this case to the 481st District Court to reissue the temporary injunction, as appellees request. But our opinion should not be read as a ruling on the merits of appellees' requested injunctive relief should appellees seek that relief from the 493rd District Court. We order that a copy of this opinion and the accompanying judgment be delivered to the Collin County District Clerk as well as the Denton County District Clerk.