IN THE
TENTH COURT OF APPEALS
No. 10-08-00329-CV
No. 10-08-00354-CV
margaret meece, patrick meece,
and margaret hiebeler,
Appellants
v.
occ construction corporation
Appellee
From the 361st District Court
Brazos County, Texas
Trial Court No. 03-001642-CV-361
Consolidated with No. 03-001643-CV-361
ORDER
The original appellants in cause number 10-08-00329-CV are Margaret Meece, Patrick Meece, and Margaret Hiebeler. The Meeces filed a Suggestion of Bankruptcy advising this Court that they had filed a voluntary bankruptcy petition on September 3, 2008. Accordingly, cause number 10-08-00329-CV was suspended because of the automatic bankruptcy stay. See Tex. R. App. P. 8.2; 11 U.S.C.A. § 362(a).
Because the stay was effective only as to the Meeces, the remaining appellant, Margaret Hiebeler, could not benefit from the Meeces’ bankruptcy stay. Accordingly, we severed the appeals of the Meeces from the remainder of the appeal of Hiebeler in an October 15, 2008 Severance and Reinstatement Order, and the Clerk docketed the Meeces’ appeal under cause number 10-08-00354-CV, styled Margaret Meece and Patrick Meece v. OCC Construction Corporation. In a memorandum opinion, for administrative purposes, we suspended cause number 10-08-00354-CV and closed it subject to reinstatement on proper motion.
Our October 15, 2008 order also reinstated cause number 10-08-00329-CV, and the Clerk of this Court re-styled it as Margaret Hiebeler v. OCC Construction Corporation.
The Meeces then filed a motion to reconsider our severance order, asserting that Hiebeler’s house was constructed on a portion of the Meeces’ homestead, which is part of their bankruptcy estate and that the Meeces’ claims against OCC, which are also part of their bankruptcy estate, include the real property that Hiebeler’s house is on. OCC responded to the Meeces’ motion, arguing that our severance was proper.
Because the trial court’s judgment and the documents attached to the Meeces’ motion to reconsider were unclear, we requested the Appellants to provide us with the two mechanic’s lien contracts on which the judgment provides for foreclosure. Both sides provided responsive documents, and Appellants further notified us that the court in the Meeces’ bankruptcy has lifted the automatic stay to allow the Meeces and Hiebeler to pursue their appeals and OCC to defend those appeals, except that the automatic stay remains in effect with respect to any action against the property.
Accordingly, we grant in part the motion to reconsider and (1) withdraw our October 15, 2008 Severance and Reinstatement Order; and (2) reinstate cause number 10-08-00329-CV as it was originally filed with Margaret Meece, Patrick Meece, and Margaret Hiebeler as Appellants. The Clerk of this Court shall re-style 10-08-00329-CV as Margaret Meece, Patrick Meece, and Margaret Hiebeler v. OCC Construction Corporation.
Cause number 10-08-00354-CV is administratively closed.
PER CURIAM
Before Chief Justice Gray,
Justice Reyna, and
Justice Davis
Motion to reconsider granted in part
Order issued and filed January 21, 2009
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