Opinion
01-22-00281-CV
07-25-2024
ProPublica, Inc. and Charles Ornstein and Hearst Newspaper, LLC d/b/a The Houston Chronicle and Mike Hixenbaugh v. Dr. O. Howard "Bud" Frazier
234th District Court of Harris County Trial court case number: 2018-45639
Panel consist of Chief Justice Adams, and Justices Guerra and Farris.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
TERRY ADAMS, JUDGE
On April 25, 2024, the Court's opinion and judgment issued in this appeal. Since then, the Court has granted appellee's requests for extensions of time, until July 9, 2024, to file a motion for en banc reconsideration. One day after that due date, on July 10, 2024, appellee filed a "Motion to Issue Mandate."
That motion, which is signed by counsel for all parties, states that the parties have resolved and settled their dispute. They ask us to "issue a mandate sending the case back to the district court (without disturbing [this] Court's April 25th decision in this case) and order the parties to bear their own costs."
This Court must issue a mandate in accordance with its judgment. Tex.R.App.P. 18.1.
Here, the Court's judgment "reverses the trial court's order and remands the case to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion." It also "orders that appellee Dr. O. Howard 'Bud' Frazier pay all appellate costs."
Because there is no timely filed motion for reconsideration or to modify the judgment with respect to the payment of costs, and our plenary power has now lapsed, we are without authority to issue a different mandate as requested. See Tex. R. App. P. 18.1, 18.7, 19.1, 19.3. We therefore deny the parties' request to modify the mandate regarding the payment of appellate costs.
Because the judgment already "remands the case to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion," and our mandate must be in accordance with the judgment, the parties' request to that effect is necessarily moot. See Tex. R. App. P. 18.1(c). We direct the Clerk of this Court to issue the mandate within ten days of the date of this order. See id. 18.6.
It is so ORDERED.