in Re Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon Logistics, Inc. ( 2022 )

NUMBER 13-22-00438-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG
IN RE AMAZON.COM, INC. AND AMAZON LOGISTICS, INC.
On Petition for Writ of Mandamus.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Benavides and Tijerina
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Benavides1
Relators Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon Logistics, Inc. filed a petition for writ of
mandamus seeking to set aside a September 1, 2022 order denying relators’ motion to
compel an independent medical examination of the real party in interest, Apoelinar Daniel
Waters. See generally TEX. R. CIV. P. 204. This Court granted relators’ emergency motion
to stay and requested that Waters file a response to the petition for writ of mandamus.
1 See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.8(d) (“When denying relief, the court may hand down an opinion but is not
required to do so. When granting relief, the court must hand down an opinion as in any other case.”); id. R.
47.4 (distinguishing opinions and memorandum opinions).
See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.2, 52.4, 52.8, 52.10(b). Waters has now filed an unopposed
amended emergency motion to lift the stay previously imposed in this case and to dismiss
the petition for writ of mandamus as moot. According to the motion, Waters has agreed
to submit to an independent medical examination and accordingly, requests that we lift
the stay and dismiss this original proceeding as moot.
The Court, having examined and fully considered Waters’s motion, is of the opinion
that it should be granted. See Heckman v. Williamson County, 369 S.W.3d 137, 162 (Tex.
2012) (“A case becomes moot if, since the time of filing, there has ceased to exist a
justiciable controversy between the parties—that is, if the issues presented are no longer
‘live,’ or if the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome.”); In re Kellogg
Brown & Root, Inc., 166 S.W.3d 732, 737 (Tex. 2005) (orig. proceeding) (“A case
becomes moot if a controversy ceases to exist between the parties at any stage of the
legal proceedings, including the appeal.”); see generally In re Contract Freighters, Inc.,
646 S.W.3d 810, 813 (Tex. 2022) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam). We grant the
unopposed motion, lift the stay previously imposed in this case, and dismiss this petition
for writ of mandamus as moot. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.8, 52.10(b).
GINA M. BENAVIDES
Justice
Delivered and filed on the
12th day of October, 2022.
2