Metropolitan Theatre, LLC v. Yes Prep Public Schools, Inc.

ACCEPTED 01-15-00480-CV FIRST COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 7/2/2015 11:37:05 AM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK No. 01-15-00480-CV FILED IN In The Court Of Appeals For The First District Of1st Texas COURT OF APPEALS Houston, Texas HOUSTON, TEXAS 7/2/2015 11:37:05 AM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Metropolitan Theatre, LLC, Clerk Appellant, v. Joseph Dow and YES Prep Public Schools, Inc., Appellees. On Accelerated Appeal From The 334th District Court Of Harris County, Texas, Cause No. 2015-24030 APPELLEE YES PREP PUBLIC SCHOOLS, INC.’S OBJECTION TO REFERRAL TO MEDIATION J. Wiley George State Bar No. 07805445 wileygeorge@andrewskurth.com Katie Ahlrich State Bar No. 24063686 katieahlrich@andrewskurth.com Cameron Pope State Bar No. 24032958 cameronpope@andrewskurth.com 600 Travis Street, Suite 4200 Houston, Texas 77002 713.220.4200 (Telephone) 713.220.4285 (Fax) Attorneys for Appellee YES Prep Public Schools, Inc. HOU:3570186.1 TO THE HONORABLE FIRST COURT OF APPEALS: Appellee YES Prep Public Schools, Inc. (“YES Prep”) files this Objection to Referral to Mediation in accordance with Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 154.022(b) (West 2012), and in support of this objection shows as follows: 1. YES Prep is an open-enrollment charter school, and as such is a governmental unit under the Texas Tort Claims Act. This accelerated interlocutory appeal concerns a property that YES Prep purchased in August 2014, and on which YES Prep is building a public school, offices, and a teacher training center. The public school is scheduled to open in August 2015, and, when fully built out, will serve more than 2,000 students from low-income communities. 2. Appellant filed suit against YES Prep and the party from whom YES Prep purchased the property, claiming rights in the property and seeking damages and specific performance to remove YES Prep from the property. The trial court granted YES Prep’s plea to the jurisdiction. 3. The issues on appeal are purely legal ones, and the parties have not done any discovery. 4. Given this background, the parties’ issues are highly unlikely to be resolved by mediation. YES Prep therefore objects to mediation. HOU:3570186.1 Respectfully submitted, ANDREWS KURTH LLP By: s/ Cameron Pope J. Wiley George State Bar No. 07805445 wileygeorge@andrewskurth.com Katie Ahlrich State Bar No. 24063686 katieahlrich@andrewskurth.com Cameron Pope State Bar No. 24032958 cameronpope@andrewskurth.com 600 Travis Street, Suite 4200 Houston, Texas 77002 713.220.4200 713.220.4285 (fax) Attorneys for Appellee YES Prep Public Schools, Inc. HOU:3570186.1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing document was served on all counsel of record via Electronic Service on July 2, 2015. Benjamin L. Hall, III William L. VanFleet Kimberly R. Bennett 530 Lovett Boulevard Houston, Texas 77006 Counsel for Appellant C. Henry Kollenberg Crain, Caton & James, P.C. Five Houston Center, 17th Floor 1401 McKinney Street, Suite 1700 Houston, Texas 77010 Counsel for Joseph Dow s/ Cameron Pope Cameron Pope HOU:3570186.1