IN RE: J. RAY MCDERMOTT, INC.--Appeal from 347th District Court of Nueces County

   NUMBER 13-05-00289-CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG

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IN RE J. RAY MCDERMOTT, INC.

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On Petition for Writ of Mandamus

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MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Hinojosa and Rodriguez

Per Curiam Memorandum Opinion

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (the AMDL Panel@) ordered the transfer of seventy-one silica exposure cases to a pretrial court for consolidated pretrial proceedings. See In re Silica Products Liability Litigation, No. 04-0606 (Tex. M.D.L. Panel Nov.10, 2004).[1] The pretrial court found that one of the transferred cases had been filed before the effective date of the multidistrict statute and rule, and accordingly, transferred that case back to its original trial court. J. Ray McDermott, Inc., a defendant in the silica lawsuits pending in the pretrial court, filed a petition for writ of mandamus seeking relief from this order of transfer. Relator contended that the pretrial court did not have jurisdiction to enter the order transferring the case back to the 347th District Court, and accordingly, the order was void. The Court requested a response from the real parties in interest, and such response was filed on May 6, 2005.

On June 17, 2005, relator filed a motion to dismiss the petition for writ of mandamus. Accordingly, this original proceeding is dismissed without prejudice and without reference to the merits.

PER CURIAM

Memorandum Opinion delivered and filed

this 23rd day of June, 2005.

[1] The Honorable Errlinda Castillo is both a Justice on this Thirteenth Court of Appeals and a member of the Multidistrict Litigation Panel. See Tex. Gov=t Code Ann. ' 74.161 (Vernon 2005) (creating the judicial panel on multidistrict litigation). We note that Justice Castillo is designated as Anot sitting@ for the decision by the Multidistrict Litigation Panel in In re Silica Products Liability Litigation, No. 04-0606 (Tex. M.D.L. Nov. 10, 2004), and she did not participate in any manner in this original proceeding.