Judge Carlos Cortez v. Coyt Randal (Randy) Johnston, the Dallas Morning News, ALM Media LLC D/B/A the Texas Lawyer, and Judge Marty Lowy ( 2013 )

In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
No. 06-13-00120-CV
JUDGE CARLOS CORTEZ, Appellant
V.
COYT RANDAL (RANDY) JOHNSTON, Appellee
On Appeal from the 298th District Court
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court No. DC-10-14346
Before Morriss, C.J., Carter and Moseley, JJ.
ORDER
Carlos Cortez has filed an appeal from an order denying his motion to seal court records
and vacating extant sealing orders. At this point, only a notice of appeal has been filed. The
order, signed October 29, 2013, was provided to this Court by Cortez in connection with a
contemporaneously-filed petition for writ of mandamus.
The case is now before this Court after transfer by the Texas Supreme Court from the
Fifth Court of Appeals.
We perceive that if the documents which are the ultimate focus of this appeal are released
to the public by the district clerk, the purpose of the appeal—to prevent their release—will be
vitiated, and the appeal would be moot.
To protect our jurisdiction, we therefore temporarily stay the trial court’s October 29,
2013, Order Denying Motion to Seal and Vacating Sealing Order while we consider the merits of
the appeal. See Dallas Morning News v. Fifth Court of Appeals, 842 S.W.2d 655, 658 (Tex.
1992) (orig. proceeding).
The clerk of this Court is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the attorneys of
record, the trial court judge, and the trial court clerk.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
BY THE COURT
Date: November 15, 2013
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