Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Marvin Glenn Berry and Bonnie Berry, as successor in interest to Dennis Wayne Berry, appealed the Business Court’s April 2, 2025 temporary injunction in favor of Albert Theodore Powers and Allied Ports LLC.
While the interlocutory appeal was pending, the Business Court entered a final judgment on June 30, 2026. The judgment made declarations in favor of Powers and Allied Ports concerning their claimed ownership and management rights in the project but denied their request for a permanent injunction. After the Court of Appeals notified the parties that the final judgment appeared to render the appeal moot, neither side responded.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeals held that entry of the final judgment rendered the pending interlocutory appeal from the temporary-injunction order moot. Because mootness defeats subject-matter jurisdiction, the court concluded that it was required to dismiss the appeal.
The court vacated the Business Court’s temporary-injunction order and dismissed the appeal for want of jurisdiction. It also dismissed Powers and Allied Ports’ motion for referral under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 29.4.
Key Takeaways
- A final judgment ordinarily renders moot a pending interlocutory appeal from a temporary injunction.
- When an appeal becomes moot, the appellate court must vacate the associated temporary-injunction order and dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
- Here, entry of the Business Court’s final judgment—not its denial of permanent injunctive relief standing alone—rendered the temporary-injunction appeal moot.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores that temporary-injunction appeals generally cannot continue after the trial court enters final judgment. Parties must then pursue any challenge to the final disposition through the procedures applicable to final judgments rather than continue litigating the superseded interlocutory order.