Opinion
05-22-00011-CV
09-27-2022
SNIDER PLAZA ALLIANCE, Appellant v. THE CITY OF UNIVERSITY PARK, PATRICK BAUGH, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, AND JAMES E. STRODE, Appellees
On Appeal from the 160th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. DC-21-14812
Before Chief Justice Burns, Justice Molberg, and Justice Pedersen, III
MEMORANDUM OPINION
KEN MOLBERG JUSTICE
At issue in this appeal is whether Snider Plaza Alliance had standing to bring the underlying suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from City of University Park Ordinance No. 21-027. Asserting the ordinance has been repealed in full, appellees have filed a motion to dismiss the appeal as moot.
The motion was filed September 6, 2022. To date, Snider Plaza Alliance has not filed a response.
Mootness can occur at any stage of the proceedings, including the appeal. In re Contract Freighters, Inc., 646 S.W.3d 810, 813 (Tex. 2022) (quoting In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., 166 S.W.3d 732, 737 (Tex. 2005)). A case becomes moot when the controversy between the parties ceases to exist. Id. Once a controversy ceases to exist, a court cannot affect the parties' rights or interests and is prohibited from deciding the case. See Heckman v. Williamson Cty., 369 S.W.3d 137, 162 (Tex. 2012).
Attached to appellees' motion is a copy of the ordinance that repealed Ordinance No. 21-027. Because Ordinance No. 21-027 has been repealed, no live controversy remains between the parties in this appeal. See In re Contract Freighters, 646 S.W.3d at 813; see also Trulock v. City of Duncanville, 277 S.W.3d 920, 927-28 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2009, no pet.) (appeal challenging constitutionality of ordinance became moot when ordinance repealed). Accordingly, we grant appellees' motion and dismiss the appeal.
JUDGMENT
In accordance with this Court's opinion of this date, we DISMISS the appeal.
We ORDER that appellees The City of University Park, Patrick Baugh, in his Official Capacity as Director of Community Development, and James E. Strode recover their costs of this appeal from appellant Snider Plaza Alliance.