TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN
NO. 03-17-00728-CV
In re Matthew Murphy
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM TRAVIS COUNTY
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Relator Matthew Murphy has filed a motion to dismiss this mandamus proceeding
as moot. Murphy’s petition for writ of mandamus asked this Court to direct the county court to
vacate its order granting the real party in interest Mojdeh Delshad’s motion to exclude and motion
to disqualify Murphy’s expert witness on real-property valuation. See Tex. Gov’t Code § 22.221;
see also Tex. R. App. P. 52.1. At the same time, Murphy filed an emergency motion for temporary
relief, seeking a stay of the trial set for November 6, 2017, in the underlying case. See Tex. R. App.
P. 52.10(a). We granted the emergency motion and stayed the trial. See id. R. 52.10(b).
In response to Murphy’s petition for writ of mandamus, Delshad advised this Court
that she had filed a “Notice of Abandonment of Plaintiff’s Diminution of Value Claim” in the
underlying proceeding, pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 165; accordingly, she asked the
Court to dismiss Murphy’s petition for writ of mandamus as moot. Murphy subsequently filed a
motion to dismiss his petition for writ of mandamus. In his motion to dismiss, Murphy confirms that
the petition for writ of mandamus is moot because Delshad’s abandonment of her claim means that
evidence of the value of the real property at issue no longer has any relevance to the underlying suit.
See In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., 166 S.W.3d 732, 737 (Tex. 2005) (“A case becomes moot
if a controversy ceases to exist between the parties at any stage of the legal proceedings . . . .”).
Therefore, we grant Murphy’s motion and dismiss this mandamus proceeding as moot, and we lift
the stay of the trial in the underlying case. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.10(b).
__________________________________________
Cindy Olson Bourland, Justice
Before Justices Puryear, Field, and Bourland
Filed: November 28, 2017
2
in Re Matthew Murphy
Combined Opinion