Rickye Henderson v. Armbrust & Brown, PLLC; David King; Guillermo Alarcon; And Ali Arabzadegan

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-24-00410-CV NO. 03-24-00509-CV

Rickye Henderson, Appellant v. Armbrust & Brown, PLLC; David King; Guillermo Alarcon; and Ali Arabzadegan, Appellees

FROM THE 200TH DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY NO. D-1-GN-24-003064, HONORABLE F. SCOTT MCCOWN, JUDGE PRESIDING

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In this Court’s cause number 03-24-00410-CV, Rickye Henderson brought an interlocutory appeal from the trial court’s order declaring him a vexatious litigant. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 11.101(a) (authorizing court to enter order prohibiting person from filing, pro se, new litigation in court without permission of appropriate local administrative judge), (c) (authorizing appeal from prefiling order entered under Subsection (a)). In this Court’s cause number 03-24-00509-CV, Henderson appeals from the trial court’s order granting motion to dismiss and final judgment. The trial court dismissed Henderson’s claims because he did not furnish security to proceed after he was declared a vexatious litigant. See id. § 11.056 (requiring court to dismiss litigation as to moving defendant if plaintiff ordered to furnish security does not furnish security within time set by order).

On January 6, 2025, appellees advised the Court by letter that the interlocutory appeal in this Court’s cause number 03-24-00410-CV had been rendered procedurally moot by the trial court’s entry of a final judgment. They request that this Court dismiss the appeal or consolidate the two appeals. At this juncture, the briefing has been completed in both cases, and Henderson’s challenge to the interlocutory order declaring him a vexatious litigant has merged into the final judgment. See Tex. R. App. P. 27.3; Chen v. Razberi Techs., Inc., 645 S.W.3d 773, (Tex. 2022) (agreeing that Rule 27.3 applied and that “court of appeals erred in failing to treat the appeal of the special appearance order as an appeal from the final judgment into which the ruling merged”). In this context, we consolidate the two above-referenced cause numbers for all purposes. The issues, records, and documents filed in cause number 03-24-00410-CV are consolidated into cause number 03-24-00509-CV. The consolidated appeal shall proceed under cause number 03-24-00509-CV, and cause number 03-24-00410-CV is hereby dismissed. 1

__________________________________________ Rosa Lopez Theofanis, Justice Before Justices Triana, Theofanis, and Ellis 03-24-00410-CV Dismissed 03-24-00509-CV Consolidated Filed: January 10, 2025

1 We also deny Henderson’s pending motions before this Court in cause number 03-24-00410-CV.