Mandamus Waived by Six-Month Delay

In a contentious trade secret case, a district judge sat through the deposition of Pendragon Transportation’s corporate representative in order to rule on the objections and instructions offered by Pendragon’s attorney. That same day, the trial court sua sponte appointed a special master to attend future depositions and make rulings on the attorneys’ objections. Two months later, Pendragon filed an objection to the special master order, and the trial court overruled that objection a month later. Three months after that ruling, and only 11 days before trial, Pendragon filed its mandamus petition with the Court of Appeals. Given Pendragon’s six-month delay in seeking mandamus to challenge the appointment of the special master, and its failure to disclose that trial was only two weeks away at the time of its filing, the Court concluded that Pendragon had slept on any right it may have had to complain about the special master. However, the Court did grant Pendragon limited relief, holding that the trial court abused its discretion by ordering the company to pay the special master’s expenses in advance. That ruling was contrary to Rule 143, which only permits the court to require security to be posted for costs, not their actual payment prior to entry of a final judgment.

In re Pendragon Transp. LLC, No. 05-13-01749-CV