In Re Patricia Harvey and Kenneth B. Chaiken v. the State of Texas

                                In the
                           Court of Appeals
                   Second Appellate District of Texas
                            at Fort Worth
                                 No. 02-23-00401-CV

IN RE PATRICIA HARVEY AND                  §   Original Proceeding
KENNETH B. CHAIKEN, Relators
                                           §   431st District Court of Denton County, Texas

                                           §   Trial Court No. 22-5037-431

                                           §   December 14, 2023

                                           §   Memorandum Opinion by Justice Kerr

                                    JUDGMENT

      This court has considered relators’ petition for writ of mandamus and all

responsive filings and holds that the petition should be conditionally granted in part.

We deny Relators Patricia Harvey and Kenneth B. Chaiken’s petition in part to the

extent it requests us to compel the trial court to vacate the sanctions order. We

conditionally grant Relators’ petition for writ of mandamus in part and direct the trial

court to enter a new order either (1) providing that the $30,000 sanction is payable

only at a date that coincides with or follows entry of a final order terminating the

litigation or (2) including express written findings explaining why ordering that the
$30,000 sanction be payable before the entry of a final judgment does not preclude

Relators’ access to the courts. We are confident that the trial court will comply with

this order. The writ will issue only if the trial court fails to comply within twenty days

of this opinion. The temporary stay that this court issued on October 25, 2023, is

ordered dissolved upon the trial court’s compliance with this court’s order in this

opinion. All other requested relief is denied.

      It is further ordered that each party shall bear their own costs of this original

proceeding, for which let execution issue.


                                        SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS


                                        By __/s/ Elizabeth Kerr_________________
                                           Justice Elizabeth Kerr