James Scarborough and Phillip Paul Bryant v. City of Houston and Annise D. Parker

Opinion issued January 12, 2017 In The Court of Appeals For The First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-16-00302-CV ——————————— JAMES SCARBOROUGH AND PHILLIP PAUL BRYANT, Appellants V. CITY OF HOUSTON AND ANNISE D. PARKER, Appellees On Appeal from the 333rd District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2015-69353 MEMORANDUM OPINION Appellants, James Scarborough and Phillip Paul Bryant, have filed a petition for permissive appeal seeking to challenge interlocutory orders denying their traditional motions for summary judgment. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 51.014(d) (West Supp. 2015); TEX. R. APP. P. 28.3. To be entitled to a permissive appeal from an interlocutory order that would not otherwise be appealable, the requesting party must establish that (1) the order to be appealed involves “a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion” and (2) an immediate appeal from the order “may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.” TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 51.014(d); see TEX. R. APP. P. 28.3(e)(4); TEX. R. CIV. P. 168 (“Permission [to pursue a permissive appeal] must be stated in the order to be appealed . . . [and] must identify the controlling question of law as to which there is a substantial ground for different of opinion and must state why an immediate appeal may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.”). The petition fails to meet these requirements because, among other problems, the order appealed from does not identify the controlling question of law or state why an immediate appeal may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation. See TEX. R. APP. P. 28.3(e)(4); TEX. R. CIV. P. 168. Accordingly, we deny the petition for permissive appeal. PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Jennings, Keyes, and Brown. 2