Over the course of the past two months I have randomly come across the phrase quo warranto. The first time was the in the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (Part VII, sec. 7) and the second time was in the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code (§§66.001 et seq.). I was further intrigued by the fact that neither of these sources give a meaningful description of the… proceeding… cause of action… whatever quo warranto happens to be. I became curious enough to look into it.
In a rare move, the Dallas Court of Appeals has levied sanctions against a party for filing a frivolous appeal of a trial court’s order denying that party’s special appearance. In Estate of Deuel-Nash, 2014 WL 5581044 (Tex. App. – Dallas 2014, n.p.h.), the defendant (Nash) in a probate proceeding filed a plea to the jurisdiction (which is different from a special appearance contesting personal jurisdiction) and later filed a “motion to nonsuit” the plea to the jurisdiction. The defendant also served a non-party with a subpoena. The defendant thereafter failed to produce documents in response to a demand from the plaintiff, prompting the trial court to issue an order to the defendant to appear and respond to the plaintiff’s motion to show cause. In response to that order, the defendant filed a special appearance, contesting the probate court’s jurisdiction over him.
