NUMBER 13-18-00069-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
DEVON ENERGY PRODUCTION COMPANY, Appellants,
L.P. ET AL.,
v.
MICHAEL A. SHEPPARD, ET AL., Appellees.
On appeal from the 24th District Court
of De Witt County, Texas.
ORDER OF ABATEMENT
Before Justices Rodriguez, Contreras, and Hinojosa
Order Per Curiam
Appellants, Devon Energy Production Company, L.P., et al., attempt to appeal the
trial court’s December 28, 2017 order on Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment.
Appellants have notified this Court that they believe the judgment is final and appealable
but state that appellees, Michael A. Sheppard, et al., have raised the finality issue in the
trial court via a motion for determination of their attorneys’ fees and entry of final judgment.
To be final and appealable, a judgment must dispose of all issues and parties in
the case. Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001). It is unclear
from the record before the Court if all claims asserted by or against all parties have been
disposed. Under these circumstances, we may abate the appeal to permit clarification
by the trial court. Id. at 206; see TEX. R. APP. P. 27.2, 44.3, 44.4.
Accordingly, we ABATE the appeal and REMAND the cause to the trial court for
clarification. Upon remand, the trial court shall address whether it intended the judgment
to completely dispose of all claims and all parties. The trial court shall cause its findings
and recommendations, together with any orders it may enter regarding the
aforementioned issues, to be included in a supplemental clerk's record. Furthermore,
the trial court shall cause a supplemental reporter's record of any proceedings to be
prepared. The supplemental clerk's record and supplemental reporter's record, if any,
shall be filed with the Clerk of this Court on or before the expiration of thirty days from the
date of this order.
It is so ORDERED.
PER CURIAM
Delivered and filed the
28th day of March, 2018.
2
Devon Energy Production Company, L.P. F/K/A GeoSouthern Dewitt Properties, LLC, BHP Billiton Petroleum Properties (N.A.), L.P., F/K/A Petrohawk Properties L.P., GeoSouthern Energy Corporation, and Petrohawk Energy Corporation v. Michael A. Sheppard, Constance S. Kirk, Jennifer S. Badger, Frank B. Sheppard, James K. Crain, Christopher M. Crain, James K. Crain, III, Patrick G. Crain, and Shirley R. Crain
Combined Opinion