in Re Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company ( 2021 )

NUMBER 13-20-00573-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG
IN RE ALLSTATE FIRE AND CASUALTY
INSURANCE COMPANY
On Petition for Writ of Mandamus.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Benavides, Longoria, and Tijerina
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Tijerina1
By petition for writ of mandamus, relator Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance
Company (Allstate) asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in denying Allstate’s
motion to quash the deposition of its corporate representative. However, Allstate has now
filed an unopposed motion to dismiss this original proceeding on grounds that the parties
have reached an agreement concerning the matters in dispute. Allstate requests that we
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,” but “[w]hen granting relief, the court must hand down an opinion as in any other case”);
id. R. 47.4 (distinguishing opinions and memorandum opinions).
dismiss the petition for writ of mandamus as moot, with all parties bearing their own costs.
The Court, having examined and fully considered the unopposed motion to dismiss
this original proceeding, 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) (stating that a case becomes moot “if a controversy ceases to
exist between the parties at any stage of the legal proceedings”); see also In re Smith
County, 521 S.W.3d 447, 455 (Tex. App.—Tyler 2017, orig. proceeding). Accordingly, we
lift the stay previously imposed in this case. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.10(b) (“Unless vacated
or modified, an order granting temporary relief is effective until the case is finally
decided.”). We grant the unopposed motion to dismiss. We dismiss this original
proceeding as moot with all parties bearing their own costs.
JAIME TIJERINA
Justice
Delivered and filed on the
14th day of July, 2021.
2