In re Estate of Aguilar, 435 S.W.3d 831 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2014, no pet.).
After plaintiffs in a wrongful death action sued
the alleged tortfeaser in El Paso County, the personal representative
filed a motion to transfer the case to Bexar County where the
administration of the decedent’s estate was pending.
The probate court granted the motion under Estates Code § 34.001.
The plaintiffs appealed.
The appellate court held that it lacked
jurisdiction to hear the appeal. The court explained
that a transfer under Estates Code § 34.001 “is essentially a
specialized form of venue transfer for matters relating to a probate
proceeding pending in a probate court.” Id. at 833.
The decision to grant the motion is thus interlocutory and the
plaintiffs must wait until a final judgment before appealing the venue
ruling.
The court recognized that mandamus relief is
available when a court allegedly transfers a case to itself without
statutory authority. The court also noted that in
some situations the court may treat an appeal as a petition for a writ
of mandamus. In this case, however, this option was
not available because the appellants did not make a specific request
that the appeal be treated as a mandamus petition.
Moral: A party seeking relief when a court
transfers a case improperly should be certain to request that its appeal
be treated as a mandamus petition to invoke the appellate court’s
original jurisdiction.