Opinion
NO. 03-17-00838-CV
01-30-2018
In re Michael Joseph Kearns
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM WILLIAMSON COUNTY
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Relator Michael Joseph Kearns has filed a petition for writ of mandamus asking this Court to compel the Williamson County Clerk and the Williamson County Court at Law No. 1 to take action on Kearns's application for writ of habeas corpus, which was filed in the court below on August 31, 2017.
This Court does not have mandamus jurisdiction over the Williamson County Clerk unless necessary to enforce this Court's jurisdiction, and our jurisdiction is not implicated here. To the extent that Kearns's petition is directed at the trial court itself, Kearns has failed to provide this Court with a record demonstrating that the trial court was asked to rule on the application but refused to do so or that the application has been pending before the trial court for an unreasonable amount of time. Accordingly, the petition for writ of mandamus is denied.
See Tex. Gov't Code § 22.221(a), (b); In re Washington, 7 S.W.3d 181, 182 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1999, orig. proceeding).
See Barnes v. State, 832 S.W.2d 424, 426 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1992, orig. proceeding) (discussing requirements for obtaining mandamus relief when properly filed motion is pending before trial court); see also In re Halley, No. 03-15-00310-CV, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 7188, at *4 & n. 12 (Tex. App.—Austin Jul. 14, 2015, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.) (collecting cases holding that five to six months is not unreasonable amount of time for motion to remain pending).
See Tex. R. App. P. 52.8(a). Kearns has also filed a motion to expedite our decision. We dismiss that motion as moot.
/s/_________
Bob Pemberton, Justice Before Justices Puryear, Pemberton, and Bourland Filed: January 30, 2018