in Re Fountain Firearms, Inc. A/K/A Fountain Firearms Investments, Inc., and Lois Fountain ( 2016 )

Opinion issued January 7, 2016 In The Court of Appeals For The First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-15-00761-CV ——————————— IN RE FOUNTAIN FIREARMS, INC. A/K/A FOUNTAIN FIREARMS INVESTMENTS, INC., AND LOIS FOUNTAIN, Relators Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus MEMORANDUM OPINION Relators, Fountain Firearms, Inc. a/k/a Fountain Firearms Investments, Inc., and Lois Fountain, filed a petition for writ of mandamus on September 8, 2015, seeking to compel the respondent trial judge to vacate the court’s July 15, 2015 order denying the relators’ motion for summary judgment and directing the trial judge to grant the relators’ motion for summary judgment in the underlying proceeding.1 On September 15, 2015, this Court granted relators’ motion to abate and substitute party, and remanded the petition to allow the new trial judge, the Honorable Chad Bridges, to reconsider the order signed by the presiding judge at the time, the late Honorable Thomas R. Culver, III. See TEX. R. APP. P. 7.2(a)–(b). On December 16, 2015, relators filed a motion to dismiss this petition as moot, with a certificate of conference stating that counsel for the real party in interest, Mark Rudolf Herfort, had been contacted and was unopposed to this motion. See TEX. R. APP. P. 10.3(a)(2), 42.1(a)(1). Relators explained that the parties had reached an agreement to settle this case before the hearing was held before the new trial judge. On December 30, 2015, a supplemental clerk’s record was filed in this Court attaching the “Joint Motion to Dismiss All Claims With Prejudice” that the parties filed in the trial court on December 14, 2015, and the order granting that motion signed by the trial court on December 22, 2015. Accordingly, we reinstate this mandamus proceeding and grant the motion to dismiss the petition for writ of mandamus as moot. PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Jennings, Keyes, and Bland. 1 The underlying case is Mark Rudolf Herfort v. Louis [sic] Fountain; Fountain Firearms, Inc. a/k/a Fountain Firearms Investments, Inc., Cause No. 13-DCV- 205348, pending in the 240th District Court of Fort Bend County, Texas, the Honorable Chad Bridges presiding. 2