Orca Assets, GP, LLC v. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.Dallas Court of Appeals, No. 05-22-00292-CV (March 1, 2023)
Justice Molberg (Order, linked
here)
In the most recent episode in this long-running saga, Orca Assets appealed from the trial court’s $2.4 million award of fees and costs against it. Because this particular aspect of the dispute had been severed years ago, Orca asked that two volumes of the sealed 12-volume clerk’s record from a 2013 substantive appeal in the main case be imported into this current fees and costs appeal. In January, Dallas Court of Appeals Justice Ken Molberg issued an order (linked
here) granting that request, but noting that “the clerk’s record in [the earlier appeal] appears to have been filed under seal in accordance with an agreed protective order rather than a sealing order under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a.” So, he further ordered that the imported volumes would “remain under seal only temporarily to allow the parties an opportunity to obtain a sealing order in compliance with rule 76a.” The order warned the parties that the Court would unseal those volumes unless they obtained that sealing order. They didn’t. So, Justice Molberg kept his promise and issued an order striking the sealed volumes of the record and ordering the district clerk to refile them “without seal.”
Not long ago, Justice Craig Smith filed a concurrence to an en banc decision (in a different case) for the express purpose of addressing documents sealed on appeal and the application of Rule 76a. Surveying the relevant authorities, he concluded:
- Rule 76a governs the sealing of records or documents filed in the court of appeals, so the appellate record should not be sealed unless and until the trial court has entered a sealing order after following the procedures of Rule 76a.
- If the trial court has not entered a Rule 76a sealing order, the appellate court will abate the appeal or temporarily seal the filed documents only to allow the trial court to conduct a hearing to determine whether the requirements of Rule 76a have been satisfied and to make findings on whether the contents of the record should be sealed.
- The parties may not enter a Rule 11 agreement or agreed protective order to skirt the requirements of Rule 76a.
In re Cook, 629 S.W.3d 591, 608 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2021, orig. proceeding) (en banc). Justice Molberg’s orders in Orca Assets follow the path mapped out by Justice Smith. They confirm parties cannot be casual about complying with Rule 76a on appeal.
