In Re: Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation--Appeal from of County

COURT OF APPEALS

EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

EL PASO, TEXAS

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IN RE: FORD MOTOR COMPANY and ) No. 08-02-00252-CV

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GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, ) AN ORIGINAL PROCEEDING

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Relators. ) IN MANDAMUS

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O P I N I O N

Pending before the Court is an agreed motion to dismiss the petition for writ of mandamus as moot. The motion is granted, our prior order staying proceedings in the trial court is lifted, and the petition is dismissed as moot.

The Real Parties in Interest, Deborah Thomson, Individually and as Representative of the Estate of Paul Thomson and as Next Friend of Laura Thomson and Krystal Thomson, filed a wrongful death action against the Relators and other defendants alleging that Paul Thomson died as a result of exposure to asbestos products sold and distributed by the defendants. One of the defendants, Federal Mogul, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Relators subsequently removed the friction products claims asserted against them to the federal district court for the Western District of Texas. In the removal notice, relators asserted that all friction products claims are related to the bankruptcy case and continued prosecution of these claims would have an effect on the administration of the bankruptcy case. The bankruptcy court entered an order transferring all of the friction product claims against the Relators. Despite the provisional transfer order, the federal district court for the Western District remanded the removed claims to the state court, the County Court at Law No. 3 of El Paso County, because it found that the cases were not subject to removal. The state trial judge, the Honorable Javier Alvarez, set the case for mediation and trial. However, the federal district court later withdrew its remand order. Judge Alvarez refused to reconsider his prior orders setting the case for trial.

Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation then filed a petition seeking a writ of mandamus against Judge Alvarez seeking to set aside his order setting the case for meditation and trial. This Court issued an order staying all proceedings in the trial court and set the case for oral argument. See Tex.R.App.P. 52.8(b)(4), 52.10(b).

Recently, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion holding that federal courts do not have jurisdiction of the friction claims and remanded all causes of action to their respective state courts. Given this holding, the Real Parties in Interest and Relators have filed an agreed motion to dismiss the mandamus as moot. The motion is granted, our prior order staying all proceedings in the trial court is set aside, and the petition for writ of mandamus is dismissed as moot.

September 26, 2002

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice

Before Panel No. 1

Larsen, McClure, and Chew, JJ.

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