Texas Court of Appeals, 15th District, 2025

Pfizer Inc. and Tris Pharma, Inc. v. the State of Texas and Tarik Ahmed

Texas Court of Appeals, 15th District · Decided May 30, 2025

Opinion

ACCEPTED 15-25-00021-CV FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 5/30/2025 3:10 PM No. 15-25-00021-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE ___________________________________ CLERK In the Fifteenth Court of Appeals Austin, Texas ___________________________________ PFIZER INC. and TRIS PHARMA, INC., Appellants, v. The STATE OF TEXAS and TARIK AHMED, Appellees. ___________________________________ On appeal from the 71st Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas No. 23-1031 ___________________________________ Unopposed Motion of Appellants to Extend Briefing Deadline __________________________ Appellants Pfizer Inc. (“Pfizer”) and Tris Pharma Inc. (“Tris”) have a deadline of June 16, 2025, to file their principal brief, and they request a 20-day extension of that deadline, making the new deadline Monday, July 7, 2025.

This is a permissive appeal from the trial court’s order denying a motion to dismiss under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 91a. This Court granted leave to appeal on April 29, 2025, and the complete record on appeal was filed as of May 26, 2025.

This is an expedited/accelerated appeal, so the appellants’ principal brief is due June 16, 2025. Tex. R. App. P. 28.1(a), 38.6(b); Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 51.014(f).

This Court can extend that deadline. Tex. R. App. P. 38.6(d). Appellants seek a 20-day extension of that deadline, which would make the new briefing deadline July 7, 2025. See Tex. R. App. P. 4.1(a).

This is Appellants’ first request to extend this deadline. Appellants seek this relief because of conflicting deadlines in the trial court action below, State ex rel.

Ahmed v. Pfizer Inc., No. 23-1031 (71st Dist. Ct., Harrison Cnty., Tex.), including significant discovery and motions practice last week and a mediation between the parties taking place on May 30, 2025.

Appellants spent most of April and May 2025 preparing for depositions and ensuring compliance with discovery deadlines before the close of fact discovery.

Indeed, just since this Court granted leave for this appeal, the parties have taken four depositions and have filed, briefed, and argued in the trial court a motion to stay and multiple motions to compel discovery.

Moreover, as they did with their joint request for this Court to accept their appeal, the Appellants intend to file a single principal brief for the convenience of the Court and the parties. Filing such a joint brief requires additional time for the parties and their counsel to coordinate and ensure alignment between their interests, and a 20-day extension thus facilitates an efficient resolution of this matter.

Counsel for Pfizer conferred on May 29, 2025, with counsel for the State of Texas regarding the request herein; the State will not oppose this request for relief.

Wherefore, Appellants ask this Court to extend to July 7, 2025, the deadline for the filing of the principal brief of the appellants herein.

Respectfully submitted, /s/ Harry L. Gilliam, Jr. /s/ Edward D. Burbach Harry “Gil” Gillam, Jr. Edward D. (“Ed”) Burbach Texas Bar. No. 07921800 Texas Bar No. 03355250 Tom Gorham Stacy R. Obenhaus Texas Bar. No. 24012715 Texas Bar No. 15161570 Gillam & Smith LLP Foley & Lardner LLP S. Washington Ave. 600 Congress, Suite 2900 Marshall, Texas 75670 Austin, Texas 78701 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Tel: 903.934.8450 Tel: 512.542.7070 Samantha Barrett Badlam William E. Lawler III (admitted pro hac vice) D.C. Bar No. 398951 Stefan P. Schropp Blank Rome LLP (admitted pro hac vice) 1825 Eye Street NW Ropes & Gray LLP Washington, D.C. 20006 2099 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. [email protected] Washington, D.C. 20006-6807 Tel: 202.420.5460 [email protected] [email protected] Huaou Yan Tel: 202.508.4734 Blank Rome LLP One Logan Square 130 North 18th George Valton (“Val”) Jones Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 Texas Bar No. 10888050 [email protected] The Val Jones Law Firm Tel: 215.569.5449 109 West Austin St. Marshall, Texas 75670-3340 Counsel for Tris Pharma, Inc. [email protected] Tel: 903.927.2220 Counsel for Pfizer Inc.

Certificate of Conference I certify that Stefan Schropp, counsel for Pfizer, has conferred by email with Jonathan Bonilla, counsel for the State, regarding the relief requested in this motion, and Mr. Bonilla indicated the State will not oppose this request for relief.

/s/ Edward D. Burbach Edward D. (“Ed”) Burbach

Certificate of Service I certify that a copy of this document was served on all counsel of record via fileandservetexas.com in accordance with the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure upon filing this document on May 30, 2025: Counsel for State of Texas: Counsel for Tarik Ahmed: Jonathan D. Bonilla Jason T. Brown Jordan Underhill 111 Town Square Place, Suite 400 Jessica L. Weltge Jersey City, NJ 07310 Vivian I. Egbu [email protected] Office of the Attorney General PO Box 12548, Capitol Michael E. Jones Station Austin, Texas 78711 102 North College, Suite 900 [email protected] Tyler, Texas 75702 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] E. Glenn Thames, Jr. North College, Suite 900 Tyler, Texas 75702 [email protected] /s/ Stacy R. Obenhaus Stacy R. Obenhaus

Automated Certificate of eService This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system.

The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Associated Case Party: Tris Pharma Inc. Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status Harry Gillam 7921800 [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Andrew Gorham 24012715 [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT William E.Lawler, III [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT M'Liss Hindman [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Bobbye Pyke [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Huaou Yan [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT

Associated Case Party: The State of Texas Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status Jonathan Bonilla 24073939 [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Jordan Underhill 24102586 [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Nadia Burns 24041176 [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Vivian Egbu [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT

Associated Case Party: Pfizer Inc. Automated Certificate of eService This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system.

Kristin Hernandez on behalf of Stacy Obenhaus Bar No. 15161570 [email protected] Envelope ID: 101450590 Filing Code Description: Motion Filing Description: Unopposed Motion of Appellants to Extend Briefing Deadline Status as of 5/30/2025 3:26 PM CST Associated Case Party: Pfizer Inc. Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status Stacy Obenhaus [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Stefan Schropp [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Samantha BarrettBadlam [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Edward Burbach [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT George Valton [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Kristin Hernandez [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Pfizer Case Team QXRTXQuiTamAssociates&[email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM ERROR Lit Docket MCO [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT

Associated Case Party: WolfgangP.Hirczy de Mino Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status Wolfgang PHirczy de Mino [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT

Case Contacts Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status Diana Arias [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Rosa Ferguson [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT Olivia Arias [email protected] 5/30/2025 3:10:46 PM SENT

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.