in Re: Wayne Warshawsky ( 2022 )

DISMISS and Opinion Filed December 19, 2022
S In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-22-01284-CV
IN RE WAYNE WARSHAWSKY, Relator
Original Proceeding from the 416th Judicial District Court
Collin County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 416-53388-2010
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Schenck, Reichek, and Carlyle
Opinion by Justice Schenck
Relator Wayne Warshawsky sought mandamus relief after the trial court
dissolved a temporary restraining that kept a child in relator’s custody. We stayed
the dissolution order based on allegations that the child’s emotional state had
deteriorated under the care of his mother, real party in interest Ashley Austin. Austin
has moved to lift the stay, arguing that the temporary restraining order expired by
operation of law and that any controversy over the now-expired temporary
restraining order was moot.
In recent cases, we have consistently held that any challenge to the dissolution
of a temporary restraining order becomes moot with the expiration of the order by
its own terms. See In re Fartook, No. 05-17-01081-CV, 2017 WL 4117178, at *1
(Tex. App.—Dallas Sept. 18, 2017, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.) (“Relator’s
complaints regarding the order dissolving the temporary restraining order are moot
because the temporary restraining order would have automatically dissolved before
relator filed this original proceeding.”); Wells v. May, No. 05-12-01100-CV, 2014
WL 1018135, at *2 (Tex. App.—Dallas Feb. 12, 2014, no pet.) (mem. op.) (holding
complaint concerning temporary restraining order dissolution to be moot because
“[b]y its terms, the temporary restraining order would have expired fourteen days
after it was entered”); see also Fisher v. Cooke, No. 05-21-00243-CV, 2022 WL
3584631, at *4 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 22, 2022, no pet.) (mem. op.) (holding a
complaint regarding the entry of a temporary restraining order to be moot “because
a temporary restraining order must expire by its terms within fourteen days after it
is signed”).
By its terms, the temporary restraining order here was set to be dissolved (1)
upon further order of the court or (2) when “it expires by operation of law.” The
operation of law would have brought the temporary restraining order to an end after
14 days. See TEX. R. CIV. P. 680. We did not stay the operation of rule 680, under
which the 14-day period was set to expire on Friday December 2, 2022.
Because the temporary restraining order expired by its own terms, any
controversy over the trial court’s dissolution order is now moot.
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Further, relator’s petition contains sensitive information including the full
name of a minor, in violation of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. See TEX.
R. APP. P. 9.9.
Accordingly, we lift our stay, strike relator’s mandamus petition, and dismiss
this original proceeding.
/David J. Schenck/
DAVID J. SCHENCK
JUSTICE
221284F.P05
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