Pending before this Court is a petition for writ of mandamus filed by relators Pasadena Independent School District, Kevin Ho, Brandon Hull, Nathan Montez, Masooma Naqvi, Zainab Naqvi, Brandt Smith, Michael Taylor, Shannon Valley, and Jeffery Young (PISD, et al.) seeking to compel the Honorable J. Blair Cherry, Jr., Judge of the 72nd District Court of Lubbock County, to rescind his order granting a temporary injunction and denying PISD et al.’s plea in abatement. For the reasons expressed herein, we conclude the petition for writ of mandamus must be denied.
On March 22, 2002, PISD, et al. filed suit in the 152nd District Court of Harris County designating the Texas Academic Decathlon Association (TADA), a Texas non-profit corporation, as the only defendant and alleging a dispute as to whether the students of the PISD team or the students of the Lubbock Independent School District (LISD) team were the winners of the contest. Although the LISD team was declared the winner on March 3, 2002, and designated to participate in the national competition scheduled for April 9 through April 13, PISD, et al. did not name or designate LISD or its team members as defendants. Following a hearing on March 27, without any notice to the members of the LISD team, the District Court of Harris County signed an order for a temporary injunction finding there was “no clear winner” of the competition and ordering retesting of both teams by April 5, 2002. *fn1
On March 27, 2002, LISD, et al. commenced the underlying action against TADA in the 72nd District Court of Lubbock County. On March 28, Judge Cherry issued a temporary restraining order directing TADA to “desist and refrain” from decertifying LISD as the winner and from retesting LISD. PISD, et al. filed a plea in intervention and a plea in abatement in the Lubbock County lawsuit. PISD et al.’s plea in intervention was granted, but its plea in abatement was denied, and on April 4, 2002, Judge Cherry again ordered TADA from decertifying LISD as the winner and further ordered that LISD would not be retested.
