Abira Medical Laboratories, LLC DBA Genesis Diagnostics v. St. Jude Medical SC, Inc., Michael Dennis Stein, Turnover Receiver, Hologic, Inc., and Kingsbridge Healthcare Finance, a Division of Kingsbridge Holdings, LLC

Citation: Not availableDocket: 14-17-00849-CV

Court: Court of Appeals of Texas; August 16, 2018; Texas; State Appellate Court

Original Court Document: View Document

SummaryOriginalCytator Case TreatmentBackward CitatorAnalysis

EnglishEspañolSimplified EnglishEspañol Fácil

The appeal from Abira Medical Laboratories, LLC (Genesis) against St. Jude Medical SC, Inc. and other appellees was dismissed due to a lack of jurisdiction. The court determined that Genesis's notice of appeal regarding the turnover order was untimely. Additionally, the court found that Genesis's challenges to the interventions of Hologic, Inc. and Kingsbridge Healthcare Finance were moot, and the turnover order itself was not void. 

The background includes a default judgment in favor of St. Jude against non-party defendants, with a turnover order signed on April 24, 2017, appointing Michael Stein as receiver. Genesis’s motion to vacate this order was denied, and although Genesis filed a notice of appeal within twenty days of that denial, the court agreed with Kingsbridge's contention that the prior order was final. The court affirmed that a turnover order, even when it appoints a receiver, is a final and appealable order, thus making the appeal untimely since a motion for new trial filed over twenty days after the order would not extend appellate deadlines. The court referenced several precedents supporting its conclusions regarding the nature of the turnover order and the timeliness of the appeal.

Genesis acknowledges that the April 24, 2017 order appointing Stein as receiver qualifies as a turnover order, mandating defendants to transfer assets to the receiver until the judgment is fully settled, including the receiver’s fees. The order also directs the receiver to distribute excess proceeds to St. Jude’s attorney without requiring further court orders. This turnover order functions as a mandatory injunction. Genesis's motion to vacate challenges this final turnover order, which was signed approximately five months prior, but its notice of appeal was not filed within the required thirty-day timeframe, rendering it untimely and leaving the court without jurisdiction. 

Genesis's reliance on various cases to argue for the timeliness of its appeal is unconvincing, as those cases pertain to challenges against interlocutory orders or involved parties who were not present when the original order was issued. In contrast, Genesis is not contesting the dissolution of the receivership but seeks to vacate the original turnover order based on defects that do not invalidate it. Consequently, the trial court’s April 24, 2017 order is deemed final and appealable, and the court lacks jurisdiction over Genesis’s first two issues on appeal.

Regarding Genesis's subsequent issues concerning the trial court's allowance of Hologic and Kingsbridge to intervene, these are deemed moot. The court has conditionally granted mandamus relief to Genesis, ruling that the trial court’s orders related to these interventions and payments to Kingsbridge were void.

Appellate courts cannot adjudicate moot issues or provide advisory opinions. An issue becomes moot when a ruling would have no practical effect on an existing controversy. Genesis argues that a turnover order is void due to inconsistencies with a final judgment. However, appellate courts can only determine if an order is void, not the merits of appeals from void judgments. Genesis claims the turnover order wrongly granted relief to non-parties not subject to the final judgment and misapplied the Turnover Statute. The court found Genesis's assertions meritless, noting that the turnover order did not reference the non-parties and was consistent with directing payments to satisfy St. Jude's judgment. Since Genesis failed to timely appeal the turnover order, the court lacked jurisdiction to consider its merits, rendering Genesis's complaints moot and resulting in the dismissal of the appeal.