Order entered March 2, 2020
In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-19-01329-CV
ZIA UL-HAQ SHEIKH, Appellant
V.
JANE DOE, Appellee
On Appeal from the 298th Judicial District Court
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. DC-18-08987
ORDER
Before the Court is appellant’s February 18, 2020 motion opposing sealing
of records. The motion appears to be in response to appellee’s February 12, 2020
motion to seal portions of appellant’s brief. That motion was denied as moot on
February 18, 2020, prior to the filing of appellant’s motion but after we struck
appellant’s brief for exceeding the word limit under the appellate rules. Because
appellee’s motion was moot, appellant’s motion is also moot and DENIED.
We note our February 18th order also struck the clerk’s record, which
consisted of one sealed volume and one unsealed volume. Although the sealed
volume included a copy of the trial court’s orders permanently sealing certain court
records in accordance with Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a, many of the
documents in the sealed volume were not subject to the sealing orders and certain
documents in the unsealed volume should have been in the sealed volume.
On February 26, 2020, Ms. Pitre filed a corrected record, consisting again of
one sealed volume and one unsealed volume. The sealed volume consists of
twenty-eight documents, excluding the cover, index, caption, cost bill, and clerk’s
certificate. Of those twenty-eight documents, three are the trial court’s sealing
orders and two are documents ordered to be permanently sealed–(1) defendant’s
findings of law and response to plaintiff’s proposed findings of fact and
conclusions of law and (2) the final judgment. The remaining documents are not
subject to the sealing orders. Of the documents in the unsealed volume, three are
to be sealed–(1) defendant’s motion to determine admissibility of plaintiff’s prior
sexual history, (2) defendant’s motion to request denial of plaintiff’s protective
order, and (3) defendant’s response to plaintiff’s reply in support of her motion for
protection.
Because the clerk’s record does not comply with the sealing orders, we
STRIKE the record and ORDER Ms. Pitre to file a second corrected record no
later than March 12, 2020.
Appellant’s brief shall be filed within thirty days of the filing of the
corrected record.
We DIRECT the Clerk of the Court to send a copy of this order to Ms. Pitre
and the parties.
/s/ KEN MOLBERG
JUSTICE