Beaumont Independent School District, Timothy Chargois, Patricia Lambert, Sybil Comeaux, and Jessie Haynes v. Ronald Reynolds

In The
Court of Appeals
Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont
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NO. 09-14-00314-CV
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BEAUMONT INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, TIMOTHY
CHARGOIS, PATRICIA LAMBERT, SYBIL COMEAUX, AND JESSIE
HAYNES, Appellants
V.
RONALD REYNOLDS, Appellee
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On Appeal from the 58th District Court
Jefferson County, Texas
Trial Cause No. A-195,812
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MEMORANDUM OPINION
This is an accelerated appeal of a trial court order that denied a plea to the
jurisdiction filed by Beaumont Independent School District (“BISD”) and its
Superintendent, Timothy Chargois, and that granted a temporary injunction
prohibiting them from taking any action to terminate the employment of Ronald
Reynolds. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(a)(4), (8) (West Supp.
2014). Patricia Lambert, Sybil Comeaux, and Jessie Haynes joined the notice of
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appeal, but none of those defendants filed a plea to the jurisdiction. The trial
court’s order denied Reynolds’s request for temporary injunctive relief as to
Lambert, Comeaux, and Haynes. Reynolds did not file a notice of appeal. While
the appeal was pending, Chargois resigned as Superintendent of BISD.
Reynolds filed a motion to dismiss the interlocutory appeal as moot.
Reynolds states that the new superintendent informed him that his employment
would not be terminated. Reynolds argues that the action of the new superintendent
disposed of all issues in the interlocutory order. In response, the appellants filed a
motion to dismiss the entire cause as moot. They agree that all issues before this
Court on appeal are moot. They further assert the entire cause is moot and must be
dismissed.
No justiciable controversy exists between Reynolds and either the school
district or its superintendent. Because Reynolds’s dispute with the school district
and its superintendent is moot, we must dismiss Reynolds’s case against them and
not just their accelerated appeal. See Heckman v. Williamson Cnty., 369 S.W.3d
137, 162 (Tex. 2012). However, the filing of the notice of appeal did not invoke
this Court’s jurisdiction over the entire case. See Davis v. Huey, 571 S.W.2d 859,
861-62 (Tex. 1978). Although they are nominally appellants, Reynolds’s claims
against Lambert, Comeaux, and Haynes are outside the scope of the order that is
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before this Court in an accelerated appeal. As a result, this Court cannot determine
whether those claims present a justiciable controversy at this time. Accordingly,
we vacate the trial court’s order of July 11, 2014, and dismiss Ronald Reynolds’s
lawsuit against Beaumont Independent School District and Timothy Chargois.
VACATED AND DISMISSED.
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HOLLIS HORTON
Justice
Submitted on October 8, 2014
Opinion Delivered October 9, 2014
Before Kreger, Horton, and Johnson, JJ.
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