in Re Fraudulent Hospital Lien Litigation ( 2020 )

NUMBER 13-19-00640-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI–EDINBURG
IN RE FRAUDULENT HOSPITAL LIEN LITIGATION
On appeal from MDL No. 15-0360-H in the 444th District Court
of Cameron County, Texas.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Longoria and Hinojosa
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Hinojosa
MedData d/b/a Alegis Revenue Group, L.L.C. (MedData) filed this notice of appeal
from MDL No. 15-0360-H, In re Fraudulent Hospital Lien Litigation, pending in the 444th
District Court of Cameron County, Texas. 1 MedData alleged that the judge of the MDL
1 This case originated in trial court cause number C-2476-19-H in the 389th District Court of Hidalgo
County, Texas, which was transferred to MDL No. 15-0360-H in the 444th District Court of Cameron County,
Texas, for consolidated pretrial proceedings.
pretrial court had not ruled on MedData’s motion to dismiss filed pursuant to the Texas
Citizens Participation Act (TCPA) within the statutory deadline, and accordingly, its motion
to dismiss was “considered to have been denied by operation of law.” See TEX. CIV. PRAC.
& REM. CODE ANN. §§ 27.005(a), 27.008(a). This appeal ensued.
On January 9, 2020, MedData filed a “Motion to Dismiss Appeal as Premature.”
Without “abandoning its position that each case in an MDL proceeding is distinct,”
MedData asserted that its attempted interlocutory appeal should be dismissed on grounds
that the underlying MDL proceedings are stayed, and thus its notice of appeal was
premature. MedData’s motion to dismiss is opposed by appellees, Alfonso Acuna, et al., 2
however, more than ten days have passed since the motion to dismiss was filed and
appellees have not filed a response or other pleading in opposition to MedData’s motion.
See TEX. R. APP. P. 10.1(a)(5), 10.1(b), 10.3(a).
The Court, having examined and fully considered the motion to dismiss and the
applicable law, is of the opinion that the appeal should be dismissed for the reasons
expressed in our opinion in In re Fraudulent Hospital Lien Litigation, No. 13-19-00627-
CV, 2020 WL _____ (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi–Edinburg Mar. 5, 2020, no pet. h.) (mem.
op.), available at http://www.search.txcourts.gov/case.aspx?cn=13-19-00627-CV.
2 The appellees include: Alfonso Acuna, Ester Alcala, Adrian Aleman, Jesus Alonso, Carlos
Andrade, Maria Barron, Blanca Cardenas, Juan Chavez, Merida Davila, Elsa Escalon, Bertha Flores De
Carrillo, Margarita Fuentes, Jose A. Garcia, Laura Garza, Jessica Gomez, Maria C. Gomez, Raul Gomez,
Celia Gonzalez, Raquel Guzman, Dalila Ibarra, Melissa Ibarra, Oralia Loza, Rosa Lozano, Sanjuana Luna,
Joannie Luna-Ponce, Matthew Marroquin, Coral Martinez, Juan Martinez, Eliezer Melendez, Dionicio
Muniz, Elizabet Olivarez, Noemi Ortiz, Victor Oyervides, Dolores Parra, Adelfa Perez, Erica Rios, Raul
Rivera, Saul Rivera, Margarita Rodriguez, Eduardo Roque, Audelia Saenz, Rebeca Salamanca, Samuel
Salinas, Jiuver Salomon, Amalia Sanchez, Mary Sosa, Juan Vasquez, Cresencia Vives, George Vives, and
Maria Zapien.
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Accordingly, we grant MedData’s motion to dismiss and we dismiss this appeal for lack
of jurisdiction. Pending motions, if any, are dismissed as moot.
LETICIA HINOJOSA
Justice
Delivered and filed the
5th day of March, 2020.
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