IN THE TENTH COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-23-00029-CV IN RE RICHARD DE LEON, JR., INDIVIDUALLY AND D/B/A SURVEY SOLUTIONS OF TEXAS AND XAVIER CHAPA

From the County Court at Law Walker County, Texas Trial Court No. 13897CV

DISSENTING OPINION Chief Justice Gray dissents. A separate opinion, as such, will not issue, but he provides this note to explain his vote. He notes that if the trial court's denial of relator's motion to dismiss for failure to provide an adequate certificate of merit is reversed in the interlocutory appeal currently pending at this Court, the resources, and more specifically the time, expended to take those depositions is lost forever; and there is no remedy that any human can provide for that loss. The real parties in interest have alleged no injury in their response that would be caused by the delay to engage in this discovery until the pending interlocutory appeal is decided. Accordingly, Chief Justice Gray would grant the petition and issue a writ of mandamus, ordering the trial court to withdraw its order compelling the relators to appear for depositions and to engage in other discovery, pending the disposition of the interlocutory appeal to determine if the real parties in interest's claims will be dismissed in their entirety. If the claims should have been dismissed, as will be determined in the interlocutory appeal, there is absolutely no reason to compel the relators to engage in discovery. Therefore, Chief Justice Gray respectfully dissents to the denial of the petition for a writ of mandamus. 1

TOM GRAY Chief Justice Dissenting opinion delivered and filed March 1, 2023

1Surely the summary denial in this mandamus proceeding is not solely because the relators might possibly have obtained some of the requested relief by filing a motion to stay the trial court's order in the currently pending interlocutory appeal.

In re De Leon Page 2