Cedric Lavon Billups, Sr. and Donna Marie Billups v. Arbelaez Investments, LLC ( 2020 )

In the
Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
at Fort Worth
___________________________
No. 02-20-00066-CV
___________________________
CEDRIC LAVON BILLUPS SR. AND DONNA MARIE BILLUPS, Appellants
V.
ARBELAEZ INVESTMENTS, LLC, Appellee
On Appeal from County Court at Law No. 1
Tarrant County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2019-002120-1
Before Sudderth, C.J.; Kerr and Birdwell, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Kerr
MEMORANDUM OPINION
In this forcible-detainer case, appellants and bankruptcy debtors Cedric and
Donna Billups attempt to appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court’s order
terminating the automatic bankruptcy stay to allow appellee Arbelaez Investments,
LLC to enforce the county court at law’s writ of possession and take possession of
the property.1
Because the bankruptcy-court order did not appear to be an order appealable to
this court, we wrote to the Billupses expressing our concern that we thus lacked
jurisdiction over this appeal. We warned that we could dismiss the appeal for want of
jurisdiction unless, within ten days, the Billupses filed a response showing grounds for
continuing it. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 44.3. The Billupses have filed a response,
but it does not show grounds for continuing the appeal.
This court does not have jurisdiction over an appeal from a federal bankruptcy
court order. See Tex. Const. art. V, § 6(a); Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 22.220(a); Cuellar v.
Livingston, No. 03-13-00304-CV, 2013 WL 4516142, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Aug.
22, 2013, no pet.) (mem. op.) (“We may only exercise jurisdiction over causes that
arise out of the State-level district or county courts within our district and are without
1
The Billupses filed for bankruptcy just over a month after the county court at
law signed the judgment of possession. See Chapter 13 Voluntary Petition, In re Billups,
No. 19-45049-elm13 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. Dec. 11, 2019), ECF No. 1.
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jurisdiction over the federal courts.”). Accordingly, we dismiss the Billupses’ appeal
for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).
/s/ Elizabeth Kerr
Elizabeth Kerr
Justice
Delivered: April 30, 2020
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