Opinion
14-20-00524-CV
08-17-2021
METROPOLITAN WATER COMPANY, L.P., Appellant v. BLUE WATER SYSTEM, LP AND BLUE WATER VISTA RIDGE, LLC, Appellees
On Appeal from the 21st District Court Washington County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 37, 412
Panel Consists of Chief Justice Christopher and Justices Wise and Hassan.
ORDER
PER CURIAM
Before this court is an emergency motion filed by appellant to stay the trial court's order of July 12, 2021, compelling production of various documents. Appellees have filed a response to the motion, and appellant has filed a reply in support.
In considering the motion, this court finds several details particularly important, all of which favor denying the motion. First, contrary to appellant's arguments, the trial court's order would not moot the underlying requests for relief. At minimum, the trial court would have to resolve whether appellant would have to altogether surrender and lose access to the files encompassed by the trial court's order. Second, appellant not only has conceded the underlying documents are relevant to the pending action, but it has cited no authority for its tacit arguments that relevant documents can be withheld from discovery simply because they are covered by a temporary injunction in that case, which would contradict Texas discovery rules generally authorizing parties to "obtain discovery regarding any matter that is not privileged and is relevant to the subject matter of the pending action." Tex.R.Civ.P. 192.3(a).
Accordingly, appellant's motion to stay the trial court's order is denied. Appellant is directed to comply with the trial court's order of July 12, 2021, no later than 21 days after the date of this order.