Ex Parte J.M. v. the State of Texas ( 2024 )

In the
Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
at Fort Worth
___________________________
No. 02-24-00150-CV
___________________________
EX PARTE J.M.
On Appeal from the 213th District Court
Tarrant County, Texas
Trial Court No. D213-E-19509
Before Kerr, Birdwell, and Bassel, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Kerr
MEMORANDUM OPINION
On March 6, 2024, the trial court signed a discovery order in Appellant J.M.’s
pending expunction proceeding. J.M. attempts to appeal from that order.
On April 9, 2024, we wrote to J.M. expressing our concern that we lacked
jurisdiction over this appeal because the discovery order did not appear to be a final
judgment or appealable interlocutory order. We warned J.M. that we could dismiss
this appeal for want of jurisdiction unless he or any other party filed a response by
April 19, 2024, showing grounds for continuing the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P.
42.3(a), 44.3. We have received no response.
Our appellate jurisdiction is limited to appeals from final judgments and from
interlocutory orders made appealable by statute. See Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp.,
39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001) (stating that “the general rule, with a few mostly
statutory exceptions, is that an appeal may be taken only from a final judgment”); see
also Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(a) (listing appealable interlocutory
orders). “Discovery orders are interlocutory in nature and therefore not appealable
until after a final judgment is entered.” Edwards v. Panda Express Inc., No. 05-19-00715-
CV, 2019 WL 4027082, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 27, 2019, no pet.) (mem. op.);
see Shanks v. Wair, No. 02-20-00138-CV, 2020 WL 5415225, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort
Worth Sept. 10, 2020, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op.) (explaining that “discovery
orders are generally not immediately appealable” and dismissing appeal from
discovery order for want of jurisdiction because the legislature “has not specified that
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interlocutory discovery orders are immediately appealable”). Because we have neither
a final judgment nor an appealable interlocutory order here, we dismiss this appeal for
want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).
/s/ Elizabeth Kerr
Elizabeth Kerr
Justice
Delivered: May 23, 2024
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