Port of Corpus Christi, LP v. Port of Corpus Christi Auth. of Nueces Cnty.

THE PORT OF CORPUS CHRISTI, LP, Appellant, v. THE PORT OF CORPUS CHRISTI AUTHORITY OF NUECES COUNTY, Appellee.

NUMBER 13-19-00378-CV

COURT OF APPEALS THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG

April 13, 2021

On appeal from the County Court at Law No. 4 of Nueces County, Texas.

ORDER OF ABATEMENT

Before Justices Benavides, Hinojosa, and Tijerina

OrderPer Curiam

Appellant The Port of Corpus Christi, LP (TPCC) appeals the trial court's order granting appellee The Port of Corpus Christi Authority of Nueces County's (POCC) plea to the jurisdiction and dismissing TPCC's suit with prejudice. After due consideration of the pleadings on file in this matter, the Court has determined that additional briefing is necessary. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.7 (providing that "[a] brief may be amended or supplemented whenever justice requires, on whatever reasonable terms the court may prescribe").

Appellate courts have a duty to assess their own jurisdiction sua sponte, and we may ascertain facts necessary to the exercise of our jurisdiction. Ward v. Lamar Univ., 484 S.W.3d 440, 450-51 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2016, no pet.); see TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 22.220(c) ("Each court of appeals may, on affidavit or otherwise, as the court may determine, ascertain the matters of fact that are necessary to the proper exercise of its jurisdiction."). The Court may take judicial notice of adjudicative facts that are matters of public record on its own motion and for the first time on appeal. TEX. R. EVID. 201(b), (c), (f); Office of Pub. Util. Counsel v. Pub. Util. Comm'n of Tex., 878 S.W.2d 598, 600 (Tex. 1994). We may take judicial notice of a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute because it (1) is generally known within the trial court's territorial jurisdiction, or (2) can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned. TEX. R. EVID. 201(b); see In re Estate of Hemsley, 460 S.W.3d 629, 638-39 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2014, pet. denied) (taking judicial notice that it was widely reported on local, state, and national news that Hemsley was buried in El Paso on November 21, 2012 at Fort Bliss National Cemetery); Hudson v. Markum, 931 S.W.2d 336, 337 n.1 (Tex. App.—Dallas 1996, no pet.) (taking judicial notice of a funeral and death announcement in the Dallas Morning News); see also Ex parte Barrett, 608 S.W.3d 80, 86 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2020, pet. filed).

We judicially notice that Corpus Christi media coverage and POCC's public meetings records indicate that POCC has terminated a lease agreement (the Lease) with a third-party concerning a crude oil export terminal on Harbor Island. Because the Lease forms the basis for many of TPCC's claims against POCC, we must determine the extent to which this development moots the issues raised on appeal. A case becomes moot when there ceases to be a justiciable controversy between the parties or when the parties cease to have "a legally cognizable interest in the outcome." State ex rel. Best v. Harper, 562 S.W.3d 1, 6 (Tex. 2018). A case can become moot at any time, including on appeal. Id. When a case becomes moot, the court loses jurisdiction and cannot hear the case, because any decision would constitute an advisory opinion that is "outside the jurisdiction conferred by Texas Constitution article II, section 1." Matthews v. Kountze Indep. Sch. Dist., 484...