Galen M. Cotton, Leonard J. Durante, Anita D. Durante, Timothy J. Vogt, Emma E. Orellana, James C. Larue Jr., and Elisabeth A. McNinch v. W. Greg Smith, Lorne D. Montgomery, Aimee K. Montgomery, and Sandy Creek Airport, Inc.

Summary

The Thirteenth Court of Appeals of Texas denied appellants’ petition for permissive interlocutory appeal and dismissed the appeal for want of jurisdiction. The court held that the trial court’s order failed to identify a qualifying controlling question of law, explain how an immediate appeal would advance the litigation, or provide a substantive ruling on the identified legal questions.

Holdings

1. A trial court's permissive-appeal order must identify a controlling question of law on which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion, state why an immediate appeal may materially advance the litigation's ultimate termination, and make a substantive ruling on the identified question of law. The order in this case did none of those things sufficiently.
2. The court of appeals' jurisdiction in a permissive interlocutory appeal is limited to the order or portion of the order for which the trial court actually granted permission to appeal.
3. Appellants failed to establish entitlement to a permissive interlocutory appeal; the petition was denied and the appeal was dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court's order satisfied the statutory and procedural requirements for a permissive interlocutory appeal.
2. Whether the court of appeals had jurisdiction to consider purported questions of law that the trial court did not identify as questions authorized for appeal.
3. Whether appellants established entitlement to a permissive interlocutory appeal.

Disposition

dismissed