IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND
DECREED that Plaintiff's Request for a Permissive Interlocutory Appeal of the Orders Granting Summary Judgment dated April 14, 2023, and April 17, 2023, is
GRANTED.
9
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND
DECREED that all proceedings in the above-entitled and numbered cause are hereby stayed pending the interlocutory appeal of the Summary Judgment Order granted on April 14, 2023, and the Summary Judgment Order granted on April 17, 2023.
SIGNED this 8 day of May, 2023.
The court did not sign JLMH's proposed order, which included statements that the orders granting summary judgment "did not dispose of Plaintiff's requests for Permanent Injunctive Relief" and that
"Defendants/Third Party Defendants request for final disposal of all parties and claims is DENIED."
If the April 17 Order is a final summary judgment, then JLMH timely filed its notice of appeal and the court of appeals correctly held that it had appellate jurisdiction over this case.5But if the May 8 Order undid the finality of the summary judgment, the case remains pending in the trial court and appellate jurisdiction is lacking. To determine which view is correct, we apply familiar principles.
"There are two paths for an order to become a final judgment without a trial: the order can (1) dispose of all remaining parties and claims then before the court, regardless of its language; or (2) include unequivocal finality language that expressly disposes of all claims and parties." Sealy Emergency Room, L.L.C. v. Free Standing Emergency Room Mgrs. of Am., L.L.C., 685 S.W.3d 816, 820 (Tex. 2024). An appellate court faced with "an order that includes a finality phrase"
10
under the second path "must take the order at face value" for jurisdictional purposes; it "cannot look at the record" to determine whether the court actually disposed of all parties and claims. In re Elizondo, 544 S.W.3d 824, 828 (Tex. 2018) (per curiam). Taking the April 17 Order at face value—"by its own express terms, in other words," Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 200—its clear and unequivocal language finally disposes of all parties and claims. The April 17 Order says in no uncertain terms that "[t]his Order is final, disposes of all parties and all claims, and is appealable." We have said before that such language "would leave no doubt about the court's intention." Id. at 206. Indeed, because "the language of the order is clear and unequivocal, it must be given effect despite any other indications that one or more parties did not intend for the judgment to be final." Id. (emphasis added). In short, because "the original order included a finality phrase, it was clear and unequivocal." Elizondo, 544 S.W.3d at 828. Therefore, the April 17 Order constituted a final judgment when it was signed.
Did the May 8 Order undo this final judgment? Despite its title, that order is far from a model of clarity. The May 8 Order does not say that it is replacing the April 14 and 17 Orders, nor does it modify their language or alter their disposition in any way. But the May 8 Order does grant JLMH's "Request for a Permissive Interlocutory Appeal" of the April 14 and 17 Orders, which perhaps implies that the trial court regarded those orders as interlocutory—contrary to their plain language. The May 8 Order also grants a "stay[]" of "all proceedings,"
which could be understood to suggest that there were remaining
11
proceedings to be had. On the other hand, the order "recognizes that [JLMH] does not waive its right to challenge the Court's summary judgment rulings, and any Final Judgment, as allowed under Texas law," and it cites two cases holding that a losing party can obtain a final adverse judgment while reserving its right to appeal that judgment. These observations and citations would be out of place unless there were a final judgment.
When faced with such mixed signals regarding finality, courts of appeals may save time and resources for all concerned by abating the appeal and remanding for the trial court to clarify whether the appealed order is final.6But the court of appeals did not do so here. To determine whether such an unclear order affects an earlier order that is final by its terms, therefore, we look again to our precedent. This Court has explained that "[d]uring the time in which a court [has plenary power to] vacate, set aside, modify or amend its previous [final] order, such action must, to be effective, be by written order that is express and specific." McCormack v. Guillot, 597 S.W.2d 345, 346 (Tex. 1980) (emphasis added) (quoting Poston Feed Mill Co. v. Leyva,
438 S.W.2d 366, 368 (Tex. Civ. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1969, writ dism'd w.o.j.)).7This requirement makes good sense when the previous
12
order was made final by its express language—the second path to finality discussed above. If an order becomes final precisely because the court chooses to use "unequivocal finality language that expressly disposes of all claims and parties,"8those parties should be able to depend on the order remaining final unless a later order sets that language aside or makes a different disposition as to a claim or party that renders the order no longer final. "Simplicity and certainty in appellate procedure are nowhere more important than in determining the time for perfecting appeal." Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 205. And the requirement that finality expressly created must be expressly undone is logical, certain, and simple to apply.
Put another way, a trial court cannot eliminate express finality language by implication—it must do so directly. Otherwise, appellate courts and litigants would be left to guess whether a subsequent order implicitly unwound finality or the time to appeal continued to run, with the consequence of a wrong guess being either the loss of appellate rights or a waste of public and private resources on a premature appeal. Our law does not condemn them to such costly uncertainty. Here, the May 8 Order falls short of the "express and specific"
language required to "vacate, set aside, modify or amend" the trial court's final April 17 Order. McCormack, 597 S.W.2d at 346. The May 8 Order does not say that it is correcting, amending, or otherwise they have no precedent supporting their contrary approach to construing court orders. Id. at 6.
13
superseding the April 17 Order.9Nor does anything in the May 8 Order alter or remove the April 17 Order's final disposition as to any claim or party. For example, the May 8 Order does not say that the court is reviving any of JLMH's claims in whole or in part, as JLMH's proposed order urged the trial court to do.10
Of course, "no magic language is required" to either create or remove express finality. In re Lakeside Resort JV, LLC, 689 S.W.3d 916, 924 (Tex. 2024) (per curiam).11But as the court of appeals put the matter in concluding it had appellate jurisdiction, the trial court's May
8 Order "made no perceivable clarifications to its prior orders" and "did nothing to undo th[eir] finality." 716 S.W.3d at 776 n.7, 778 n.8. Accordingly, we hold that the April 17 Order remained final, and we have jurisdiction over this appeal of the order.
Our dissenting colleagues contend that this holding renders the May 8 Order meaningless. We certainly agree with the dissent (post at 6 (Sullivan, J., dissenting)) that the trial court was "trying to say
14
something" in that order, which was proposed by Family Dollar, but we have explained that the language chosen is unclear when applied to these facts. Some statements require clarity to have a certain effect:
whether a statute to abrogate the common law, a pleading to cause a judicial admission, or an order to effect finality.12Because a clear-statement rule applies here and the May 8 Order is not clear, the April 17 Order granting summary judgment based on limitations remained final, and our appellate jurisdiction is secure.
II. The two-year statute of limitations bars trespass and similar claims seeking both damages and an injunction.
We now turn to the merits of the April 17 Order, which the court of appeals partially reversed. In doing so, the court drew a distinction for limitations purposes between JLMH's claims for damages and its requested injunction. Applying our decision in Schneider National Carriers, Inc. v. Bates, 147 S.W.3d 264 (Tex. 2004), the court of appeals held that the nuisance and trespass were sufficiently constant and regular to be considered permanent because JLMH's property flooded every time it rained and the flooding was caused by permanent
15
structures. 716 S.W.3d at 779. Thus, claims seeking damages for those injuries to JLMH's land accrued in 2016 or 2017 when the flooding first occurred and was discovered, and those claims were barred by the two-year statute of limitations before JLMH filed this suit. Id. at 779-
780. These holdings are not challenged in this Court. But the court of appeals also concluded that "Texas law does not recognize limitations as a defense to injunctive relief to abate a nuisance." Id. at 781. Family Dollar argued that injunctive relief depends on a cause of action and all of JLMH's causes of action are barred by the two-year statute of limitations. See id. at 782-83. The court of appeals rejected this argument, reasoning that a plaintiff has a
"standalone right to have a nuisance abated." Id. at 783. Thus, it reversed the portion of the trial court's judgment applying limitations to JLMH's request for injunctive relief. Id.
Family Dollar challenges these holdings, renewing its arguments that injunctions require a cause of action and that statutes of limitations generally apply to equitable as well as legal actions. We agree with Family Dollar.
There is no stand-alone right to abate a nuisance or obtain an injunction. Regardless of the relief a party seeks, "remedies are available only if liability is established under a cause of action." Etan Indus., Inc. v. Lehmann, 359 S.W.3d 620, 625 n.2 (Tex. 2011) (per curiam). A nuisance is not a cause of action but a type of "legal injury"
to "a person's right to the 'use and enjoyment of property'" that "may result from [a] wrongful act" and "give rise to a cause of action." Crosstex N. Tex. Pipeline, L.P. v. Gardiner, 505 S.W.3d 580, 594-95 (Tex. 2016).
16
And although "[a]n injunction is the recognized method of abating nuisances,"13injunctions also generally require proof of "(1) a wrongful act, (2) imminent harm, (3) an irreparable injury, and (4) the absence of an adequate remedy at law." Pike v. Tex. EMC Mgmt., LLC, 610 S.W.3d 763, 792 (Tex. 2020).
The wrongful acts alleged here are violations of property rights and breaches of tort and statutory duties—each of which, if found, would be sufficient to establish liability. JLMH's petition separates these acts into three counts: trespass, negligent and intentional diversion of water, and violation of the Water Code provision prohibiting diversion of water in a manner that damages another's property. See TEX. WATER CODE § 11.086(a). The summary judgment record includes evidence of these violations, none of which are disputed at this stage of the case. For each count, JLMH seeks an injunction and damages as remedies, and it points to a line of cases cited by the court of appeals for the proposition that "limitations is not a defense to an injunction requesting abatement of a nuisance." 716 S.W.3d at 781. But this Court has recognized "the general rule that under our blended system, where both law and equity are administered by the same court, statutes of limitation apply to equitable actions the same as to legal actions."
Culver v. Pickens, 176 S.W.2d 167, 170 (Tex. 1943).14
17
Turning to which statute of limitations applies, Chapter 16 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code sets out the various limitations periods. The two-year statute of limitations to "bring suit for trespass for injury to the estate or to the property of another" appears in subchapter A addressing "personal actions." TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 16.003(a). This Court has confirmed that the limitations period governing a claim for private nuisance injury to the use and enjoyment of land is two years. Schneider, 147 S.W.3d at 270.15For that reason, as the court of appeals observed, "[t]he parties agree that [this] two-year statute of limitations applies to all of JLMH's claims." 716 S.W.3d at
778. Because it is the claim itself that determines which limitations period applies, JLMH's addition of a request for injunctive relief to its claims for injury to land does not alter the two-year limitations period. For these reasons, we hold that the two-year statute of limitations bars JLMH's trespass, negligence, and Water Code claims seeking both damages and an injunction. Accordingly, the court of appeals erred by partially reversing the trial court's order granting summary judgment on those claims.
refuse relief wherever the claim would have been barred by the statute, if it had been made in a court of law.").
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CONCLUSION
We hold that we have appellate jurisdiction and that the two-year statute of limitations bars the claims pleaded by JLMH. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and reinstate the judgment of the trial court.
J. Brett Busby
Justice
OPINION DELIVERED: June 26, 2026