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The Supreme Court of Texas issued a per curiam opinion
addressing the jurisdiction of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals
The orders:
Misc. Docket No. 25-9013 Kelley v. Homminga
Misc. Docket No. 25-9014 Devon Energy Prod. Co. v. Oliver
Below is a summary of the orders:
Kelley v. Homminga and Devon Energy Prod. Co. v. Oliver, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2025 WL ___ (Tex. Mar. 14, 2025) (per curiam) [Misc. Docket Nos. 25-9013, 25-9014]
These administrative matters raise the question whether a party can appeal to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals even though the case is not within the court’s exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction.
In Kelley v. Homminga and Devon Energy v. Oliver, the defendants noticed their appeals to the Fifteenth Court while conceding that the appeals are not within the Fifteenth Court’s exclusive jurisdiction. Under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 27a, the plaintiffs in each case moved to transfer the appeal to the regional court of appeals that hears appeals from the relevant county. The Fifteenth Court issued letter rulings that the motions should be denied, reasoning that Government Code Sections 22.201(p) and 22.220(a) give the court general appellate jurisdiction over civil cases statewide and that there is no express statutory bar to noticing an appeal there. The potential transferee courts each filed letters stating their agreement or disagreement. Under Rule 27a, the Fifteenth Court forwarded the motions and letters to the Supreme Court for a decision.
The Supreme Court granted both transfer motions. In a per curiam opinion, the Court analyzed Government Code Sections 22.201, 22.216, 22.220, 22.221, and 73.001, which were amended in 2023 by the act creating the Fifteenth Court. The Court held that a fair reading of the act, discerned through a contextual reading of all its provisions, is that the Legislature intended the Fifteenth Court to hear (1) appeals and writs within its exclusive jurisdiction, and (2) appeals transferred into the court by the Supreme Court to equalize the courts of appeals’ dockets. Because the appeals fall into neither category, they were improperly taken to the Fifteenth Court.
Case summaries are prepared by Court staff as a courtesy. They are not a substitute for the actual opinions.
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