NUMBER 13-16-00173-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
____________________________________________________
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant,
v.
LUBY’S FUDDRUCKERS RESTAURANTS, LLC, Appellee.
____________________________________________________
On appeal from the County Civil Court at Law No. 4
of Harris County, Texas.
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ORDER
Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Rodriguez and Hinojosa
Order Per Curiam
This Court issued its memorandum opinion on June 15, 2017, affirming the trial
court’s judgment in part, and reversing and rendering it in part. On July 25, 2017, the
parties filed their Joint Motion to Remand for Entry of an Agreed Judgment Pursuant to
Settlement. In the motion, the parties stated that they “have now fully compromised and
settled the dispute involved in this litigation.” They jointly requested that this Court
grant rehearing and modify [our] judgment to affirm the judgment in part (on
Luby’s claim for damages to the remainder property), reverse the judgment
in part (on Luby’s counterclaim for lost profits), and remand this case to the
trial court so that the trial court can enter the Agreed Judgment
contemplated by the parties’ Rule 11 Settlement Agreement.
An appellate court is not authorized to grant rehearing, modify its judgment to
affirm in part and reverse in part and remand the cause for further proceedings related to
a settlement. Instead, in a voluntary dismissal and settlement civil case, rule 42.1(a)
provides authority for this Court to: (1) render judgment effectuating the parties’
agreement; (2) set aside the trial court’s judgment without regard to the merits and
remand the case for rendition in accordance with the agreement; or (3) abate the appeal
and permit proceedings in the trial court to effectuate the agreement. See TEX. R. APP.
P. 42.1(a). Based on the above, we construe the joint motion as requesting that we “set
aside the trial court’s judgment without regard to the merits and remand the case to the
trial court for rendition of judgment” in accordance with the agreement signed by the
parties. Id. R. 42.1(a)(2)(B).
We grant the motion, as construed. We set aside the trial court’s judgment with
regard to the merits, and we remand the cause to the trial court for the rendition of
judgment in accordance with the parties’ agreement.1 If our understanding of the parties’
request is incorrect, we invite the parties to file a motion to reconsider our ruling on the
motion within five days of the date of this order.
1The parties have also filed a joint motion to expedite the issuance of the mandate. We grant the
motion to expedite. Mandate will issue on August 18, 2017.
2
We withdraw our previous judgment of June 15, 2017, and issue a substituted
judgment. Our memorandum opinion of June 15, 2017, will not be withdrawn.
PER CURIAM
Delivered and filed the
3rd day of August, 2017.
3