DISMISS; and Opinion Filed December 6, 2018.
In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-18-00970-CV
IN RE SUSAN HARRIMAN, Relator
Original Proceeding from the 162nd Judicial District Court
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. DC-15-11994
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Bridges, Brown, and Boatright
Opinion by Justice Brown
Before the Court are relator’s petition for writ of mandamus and relator’s “Motion to
Vacate Trial Court Orders, Implement Settlement Agreement and Dismiss.” In this original
proceeding, relator complains of the trial court’s orders related to production of a purportedly
privileged e-mail; i.e., the Attorney Theos Email. The parties have now settled the underlying
dispute, and the trial court has signed an “Order of Non-Suit with Prejudice” and dismissed all
claims at issue in this original proceeding. In her motion, Relator requests that this Court take the
following actions: (1) vacate the trial court’s oral and written orders related to the Attorney Theos
Email, (2) order the real parties in interest and their counsel to return all hard copies and destroy
all electronic copies of the Attorney Theos Email, (3) permanently seal volume 3 of the sworn
mandamus record, and (4) order the parties to bear their own costs. Real parties in interest Julio
Palmaz, M.D. and Steven Solomon filed a response to the motion. They oppose the relief requested
by relator and maintain that the non-suit and dismissal order rendered this proceeding moot and,
therefore, must be dismissed.
When a trial court dismisses an action pursuant to a notice of non-suit, a temporary order
rendered during the pendency of the cause automatically dissolves by operation of law without
further order of the trial court and renders appellate proceedings related to the order moot. Gen.
Land Office v. OXY U.S.A., Inc., 789 S.W.2d 569, 571 (Tex. 1990) (when trial court dismisses
lawsuit, temporary injunction is automatically dissolved); Goodman v. Hill, No. 05-13-01313-CV,
2014 WL 1576969, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Apr. 21, 2014, no pet.) (“The trial court’s dismissal
of the underlying action automatically dissolved the temporary injunction, rendering the issues in
this appeal moot.”).
Here, the trial court’s dismissal automatically dissolved the orders of which relator
complains. This controversy is, therefore, moot and must be dismissed. See Gen. Land. Office,
789 S.W.2d at 572. Accordingly, we deny relator’s request for orders vacating the trial court’s
orders and for orders requiring return or destruction of paper and electronic copies of the Attorney
Theos Email. We deny as moot relator’s request for the permanent sealing of Volume 3 of the
mandamus record because this Court’s November 5, 2018 order sealing the original and all copies
of Volume 3 of the mandamus record remains in effect. Finally, in light of the trial court’s non-
suit and dismissal order, we dismiss this original proceeding as moot without reaching the merits
of the petition for writ of mandamus.
/Ada Brown/
ADA BROWN
JUSTICE
180970F.P05
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