Opinion
No. 04-05-00040-CV
Delivered and Filed: October 12, 2005.
Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 2, Webb County, Texas, Trial Court No. 2001-PB7-00088-L2, Honorable Jesus Garza, Judge Presiding.
Motion to Dismiss Granted; Dismissed As Moot.
Sitting: Sarah B. DUNCAN, Justice, Karen ANGELINI, Justice, Sandee Bryan MARION, Justice.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Jose A. Montemayor, the executor and a beneficiary of the Estate of Nora G. Montemayor, appealed the probate court's December 15, 2004 order approving the sale of estate property to Rolando and Anita Rangel in accordance with the terms of an earnest money contract submitted by the Rangels. After Montemayor filed his appellant's brief challenging the terms of the sale, Appellees, beneficiaries of the Estate, filed a motion to dismiss the appeal as moot, alleging that the sale that is the subject of the order and the appeal has been lost and therefore there is no longer a live controversy between the parties with respect to the December 15, 2004 order. Appellant opposed the motion to dismiss, stating he had no knowledge of whether the Rangels abandoned their intent to purchase the property in accordance with the terms approved by the trial court. Accordingly, we abated this appeal and remanded the case to the trial court to make findings as to whether the earnest money contract that was approved in the court's December 15, 2004 order has been abandoned.
On September 8, 2005, after a hearing, the trial court found that, after its December 15 order approving the terms of the sale, "the Independent Executor, Jose Montemayor, refused to execute the Earnest Money Contract or participate in the court ordered sale of the decedent's residential homestead." Thus, "[t]he sale . . . to the Rangels was not consummated" and the Rangels "abandoned their offer to purchase [the property]." The court concluded that "the court approved contract to purchase the residential homestead of decedent" has been "abandoned." The trial court's written findings are contained in a supplemental clerk's record filed in this court on September 12, 2005.
We conclude that Montemayor's appeal became moot when the contract to sell the property was abandoned. At that time, there ceased to be a live controversy between the parties regarding the court-approved terms of the contract. See Valley Baptist Med. Ctr. v. Gonzalez, 33 S.W.3d 821, 822 (Tex. 2000) We therefore reinstate this appeal on the docket of the court and dismiss the appeal as moot.