KM Timbercreek, LLC v. Harris County Appraisal District

Opinion issued October 15,

2009

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of

Texas

NO. 01-08-00689-CV

KM-TIMBERCREEK, LLC, commonly known as KMI YORKTOWN,

LP, AS THE PROPERTY OWNERS AND THE PROPERTY OWNERS, Appellants

V.

HARRIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT, Appellee

On Appeal from the 334th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 2007-56250

O P I N I O N

KM-Timbercreek, LLC

(“Timbercreek”), appeals from the trial court’s order granting Harris County

Appraisal District’s (“HCAD”) plea to the jurisdiction and denying a Rule 28

motion filed by the initial plaintiff, KMI Yorktown, LP (“Yorktown”), to

substitute the “true name” of Timbercreek for that of Yorktown as plaintiff.

After pursuing an administrative protest of HCAD’s 2007 valuation of the property,

Yorktown sued to challenge the Appraisal Review Board’s (“the Board”) [1]

Order Determining Protest. HCAD discovered that Timbercreek, and not Yorktown,

was the record legal owner of the property on January 1, 2007, and thus

Timbercreek was the proper party to pursue a protest. HCAD subsequently filed

a plea to the jurisdiction, alleging Yorktown lacked standing to seek judicial

review of the Board’s order. Timbercreek challenges the trial court’s order, contending

that: (1) both Yorktown and Timbercreek have standing to seek judicial review

of the Board’s order; (2) Section 42.21(e) of the Texas Tax Code allows the

amendment of a timely filed petition to correct or change the name of a party;

and (3) Yorktown is the “common name” of Timbercreek, and thus the “true name”

of Timbercreek may be substituted as the plaintiff pursuant to Texas Rule of

Civil Procedure 28. We conclude that Yorktown was not the record owner of the

property on January 1, 2007, and Timbercreek did not complete the

administrative protest process before the Board; thus, neither entity had

standing to petition for judicial review of the 2007 valuation. We further

conclude that no evidence in the record indicates that Yorktown is a “common

name” for Timbercreek; thus, the trial court did not err in refusing to allow substitution

under Rule 28. We therefore affirm.

Background

The property at issue is located at 0

Highway 6 North in Houston. Yorktown sold the property to Timbercreek by special

warranty deed on November 1, 2006. Therefore, on January 1, 2007, Timbercreek

was the record legal owner of the property. Despite this change in ownership,

HCAD mailed Yorktown a Notice of Appraised Value on April 25, 2007. Yorktown

subsequently filed a protest with HCAD’s Appraisal Review Board. On July 27,

2007, the Board issued an Order Determining Protest, mailed to O’Connor &

Associates, Yorktown’s designated agent for the protest process, ordering a

reduction in the appraised value of the property. Timbercreek never intervened

nor appeared in Yorktown’s protest, and did not file its own protest of the

initial appraised value with the Board.

Pursuant to section 42.21(a) of the

Texas Tax Code, Yorktown timely petitioned the trial court for review of the

Board order on September 13, 2007. Yorktown’s original petition included

several assertions that it owned the property. In attached responses to Rule

194 disclosures, Yorktown stated that “KMI Yorktown, LP” was the correct name

of the plaintiff and it knew of no other potential parties to the suit. In its

proposed trial preparation order, Yorktown included a proposed finding of fact

that it was the owner of the property on January 1 of each of the tax years in

question. Nine months later, on June 19, 2008, HCAD filed a plea to the

jurisdiction, arguing that since Timbercreek was the record owner of the

property on January 1, 2007, Yorktown lacked standing to seek judicial review

of the Board’s order under the Texas Tax Code. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 42.01 (Vernon

2008),§ 42.21(a) (Vernon Supp. 2009).

In response to HCAD’s plea to the

jurisdiction, Yorktown moved to allow for substitution of the “true name” of

Timbercreek as plaintiff for the “common name” of Yorktown, used by HCAD in its

records and correspondence, pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 28.

According to Yorktown, Timbercreek, acting under its “common name” of Yorktown,

protested the Board’s order and timely filed suit for review of the order, and

thus had standing to pursue judicial review. The trial court granted HCAD’s

plea to the jurisdiction, denied Yorktown’s Rule 28 motion, and dismissed the

case for want of jurisdiction.

Discussion

Standard

of Review

Standing is a necessary component of

subject-matter jurisdiction and subject-matter jurisdiction is necessary for a

court to decide a particular case. Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue , 34

S.W.3d 547 , 553–54 (Tex. 2000). If the plaintiff can cure the jurisdictional

defect by amending its pleadings, then the opponent properly raises the

jurisdictional challenge through special exceptions. See Washington v. Fort

Bend Indep. Sch. Dist. , 892 S.W.2d 156, 159 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.]

1994, writ denied) (“If a jurisdictional defect can be cured by amendment it

should be challenged by either a plea in abatement or special exceptions.”). If

the trial court grants special exceptions, it should then afford the plaintiff

the opportunity to amend its pleadings. See County of Cameron v. Brown ,

80 S.W.3d 549, 555 (Tex. 2002). If, however, the jurisdictional defect cannot

be cured by amendment, a party may file a plea to the jurisdiction, and, if the

trial court finds the plea meritorious, it may grant it without allowing the

plaintiff an opportunity to amend. See Brown , 80 S.W.3d at 555 ;

Washington , 892 S.W.2d at 159 ; see also Blue , 34 S.W.3d at 554 (“The

absence of subject-matter jurisdiction may be raised by a plea to the

jurisdiction.”). A trial court decides a plea to the jurisdiction by reviewing

the pleadings as well as any evidence relevant to the jurisdictional inquiry. Blue ,

34 S.W.3d at 555 . We review a trial court’s ruling on a plea to the

jurisdiction de novo , construing the pleadings liberally in favor of the

plaintiffs while considering the pleader’s intent. Tex. Dep’t of Parks

& Wildlife v. Miranda , 133 S.W.3d 217, 226, 228 (Tex. 2004).

Standing to Seek Judicial Review of

the Board’s Order Determining Protest

Chapter 41 of the Texas Tax Code

(“the Code”) bestows upon property owners the right to protest the appraised

value of their property to the local appraisal review board. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. §§ 41.41–.47

(Vernon 2008). Rights under the Code are premised upon ownership of the

property at issue. See Koll Bren Fund VI, LP v. HCAD , No.

01-07-00321-CV, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *8–9 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st

Dist.] Feb. 28, 2008, pet. denied) (mem. op.) (citing Tex. Tax Code Ann. §§ 32.07(a), 41.41(a)(1), 41.412(a)

(Vernon 2008)). Chapter 42 of the Code provides the right to seek judicial

review of an adverse protest determination by the appraisal review board. See

Tex. Tax Code Ann.

§§ 42.01–.031 (Vernon 2008) (providing a right of appeal to the property

owner, certain lessees, the chief appraiser, the county, and the taxing unit).

Aside from the few specific exceptions enumerated in Chapter 42, the property

owner is the only entity with standing to appeal an appraisal review board

order to the district court. Id. ; see also Tourneau Houston, Inc. v.

HCAD , 24 S.W.3d 907, 909 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, no pet.) (“As

a general rule, only an owner may protest before the [Appraisal Review Board]

and sue in court for relief”).

Section 42.21(a) of the

Code specifies the procedural requirements that a party seeking judicial review

of an appraisal review board order must meet:

A party who appeals as provided by

this chapter must file a petition for review with the district court within

45 days after the party received notice that a final order has been entered

from which an appeal may be had. Failure to timely file a petition for review

bars any appeal under this chapter.

Tex. Tax

Code Ann.

§ 42.21(a) (emphasis added). [2]

We recently analyzed the standing requirements of section 42.21(a) in Koll

Bren . See 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *10. Although section

42.21(a) does not explicitly say who may be a “party,” it does describe a party

as one “who appeals as provided by this chapter,” meaning Chapter 42 of the Tax

Code. Id. Section 42.01, “Right of Appeal by Property Owner ,”

specifically states that “[a] property owner is entitled to

appeal . . . an order of the appraisal review board

determining . . . a protest by the property owner .”

Tex. Tax Code Ann.

§ 42.01(1)(A) (emphasis added). We concluded that the Code requires

property ownership for two distinct rights: (1) the right to protest an

initial appraisement before the appraisal review board; and (2) the right to

appeal the appraisal review board’s determination to a district court. See

Koll Bren , 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *10–11. As a result, for a party

to be entitled to judicial review, the party must be the record legal owner of

the property and must protest the initial valuation to the appraisal review

board. See id. at *11 .

In Koll Bren , we

further determined that the Code entitles three categories of parties to seek

judicial review: (1) owners of the property; (2) properly designated agents of

the owner pursuant to section 1.11; and (3) certain lessees meeting the

criteria of section 41.413. See id. If a plaintiff seeking judicial

review does not fall into one of these three categories, then they have

“neither a legal right to enforce, nor any real controversy at issue, and,

therefore, no standing under the Code.” Id. (citations omitted); see

also MHCB (USA) Leas. & Fin. Corp. v. Galveston Cent. Appraisal Dist. ,

249 S.W.3d 68, 78 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2007, pet. denied).

A.

Yorktown’s

Standing to Seek Judicial Review

In its original petition, Yorktown

asserted that it owned the subject property; it made no mention of Timbercreek.

After HCAD filed its plea to the jurisdiction, Yorktown filed a “Supplemental

Rule 28 Motion and Supplemental Response to Defendant’s Plea to the

Jurisdiction,” acknowledging that the property owner on January 1, 2007, and

the party responsible for paying the assessed taxes, was Timbercreek. Yorktown

never claimed to be a designated agent or a lessee of Timbercreek. Since

Yorktown is neither an agent nor a lessee of the property owner and it was not

the actual property owner on January 1, 2007, Yorktown has no legal right to

either protest the valuation or to seek judicial review of the Board’s

determination of the protest. Yorktown therefore lacks standing to appeal

under section 42.21(a). See Koll Bren , 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at

*12.

B.

Timbercreek’s

Standing to Seek Judicial Review

Timbercreek, as the record owner of

the subject property on January 1, 2007, had standing to protest the initial

appraised value of the property. See Tex.

Tax Code Ann. § 41.41(a). Despite this right and Timbercreek’s

argument on appeal that it “prosecuted the administrative process,” Timbercreek

never filed a protest of valuation with the Board or intervened in Yorktown’s

pending protest. As a result, the Board never determined a valuation protest

brought by the actual property owner. No protest proceeding exists on which

Timbercreek, as the property owner, can premise a right of appeal to the

district court. See Koll Bren , 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *13; see

also BACM 2002 PB2 Westpark Dr LP v. HCAD , No. 14-08-00493-CV, 2009 Tex.

App. LEXIS 5528 , at *10–11 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] June 21, 2009, no

pet. h.) (mem. op.); Mei Hsu Acquisition Corp. a/k/a Plaza at 610 Commons, Inc.

v. HCAD , No. 01-08-00690-CV, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 7727 , at *8 (Tex.

App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Oct. 1, 2009, no pet. h.) (mem. op.) (citing Koll

Bren , 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *7).

Section 42.09 of the Code provides

that Code procedures for adjudicating a valuation protest are the exclusive

remedies available to a property owner. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 42.09(a) (Vernon 2008); Gregg

County Appraisal Dist. v. Laidlaw Waste Sys., Inc. , 907 S.W.2d 12, 16 (Tex.

App.—Tyler 1995, writ denied). Failure to comply with the Code requirements,

such as not protesting the initial valuation before the appraisal review board,

deprives the reviewing district court of jurisdiction. See Koll Bren ,

2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *13 (citing Cameron Appraisal Dist. v. Rourk ,

194 S.W.3d 501, 502 (Tex. 2006)). Since Timbercreek failed to protest the

initial valuation before the appraisal review board, the Board never determined

a protest by Timbercreek as the property owner. Thus Timbercreek, like

Yorktown, has “[no] legal right to enforce, nor any real controversy to

determine,” and lacks standing to seek judicial review under section 42.21(a).

Id. at *14.

Additionally, the Texas Supreme Court

has held that an administrative decision by the appraisal review board is final

if not appealed to the district court within forty-five days after the party

received notice of the board’s order. See Rourk , 194 S.W.3d at 502 ; see

also Tex. Tax Code Ann.

§ 42.21(a). This administrative process is exclusive: a property owner’s

failure to pursue administrative review of the initial valuation before the

appraisal review board “deprives the courts of jurisdiction to decide most

matters relating to ad valorem taxes.” Rourk , 194 S.W.3d at 502 . Since

no proper party appealed to the district court within forty-five days, “the

trial court never acquired subject-matter jurisdiction, and the Board’s

valuation became final when those 45 days expired.” Koll Bren , 2008

Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *16; see also Mei Hsu , 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS

7727 , at *7.

The Fourteenth Court of Appeals

previously has held that the failure to join a necessary party, such as the

property owner, to a suit for judicial review within the forty-five day window

is “fatal to judicial review under section 42.21.” Taufiq ex rel. Patrick

O’Connor & Assocs., Inc. v. HCAD , 6 S.W.3d 652, 654 (Tex. App.—Houston

[14th Dist.] 1999, no pet.). Even if Timbercreek pursued an administrative

protest, making it a proper party to seek judicial review, Yorktown did not move

under Rule 28 to substitute Timbercreek as the “true plaintiff” until July 3,

2008, a date well beyond the forty-five day window.

Use of Section 42.21(e) to Change

Yorktown to Timbercreek

Like Koll Bren, BACM, and Plaza

before it, Timbercreek contends that the trial court has jurisdiction over the

dispute since section 42.21(e)(1) of the Code allows a party to amend timely

filed petitions for review to correct or change the name of a party. See

Tex. Tax Code Ann.

§ 42.21(e)(1); Koll Bren , 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *14; BACM ,

2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 5528 , at *14; Mei Hsu , 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 7727 ,

at *5. Both this court and the Fourteenth Court of Appeals have rejected this

argument. Section 42.21(e) specifies that only petitions that are “timely

filed under Subsection (a) or amended under Subsection (c)” may later be

amended to change or correct a party’s name. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 42.21(e)

(emphasis added). To seek judicial review under Subsection (a), the

plaintiff must be a “party who appeals as provided by [Chapter 42],” meaning

the plaintiff must be the property owner, a properly designated agent, or a

lessee. Koll Bren, BACM, Plaza and Yorktown all timely filed petitions for

review within the forty-five day window. But none of these parties owned the

relevant property on January 1 of the tax year at issue, and thus all lacked

standing to seek judicial review. See Koll Bren , 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS

1521 , at *12; BACM , 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 5528 , at *10; Mei Hsu ,

2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 7727 , at *8. Since no proper party appealed the appraisal

review board’s determination within forty-five days, the trial court never

acquired subject-matter jurisdiction and the Board’s order became final after

the expiration of forty-five days. See Koll Bren , 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS

1521 , at *16 (citing Rourk , 194 S.W.3d at 502 ); see also Mei Hsu ,

2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 7727 , at *7 (“Here, like Koll Bren Fund , Plaza was

not a proper party to bring the suit below and, no proper party having appealed

to the district court within 45 days, the trial court properly dismissed the

suit for review for want of jurisdiction.”). [3]

Timbercreek also argues

that since suit was brought in the name of “KMI Yorktown, LP as the property

owner and the property owners,” the suit encompasses Timbercreek, the record

legal owner of the property, as a plaintiff. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals

addressed the effect of styling the case in this manner in BACM . Bringing

suit in this manner still presupposes that the actual property owners are

proper parties to file suit. See BACM , 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 5528 , at

*16. Timbercreek, however, failed to exhaust administrative remedies by

protesting the valuation of the property before the appraisal review board and

thus, it failed to satisfy the jurisdictional prerequisites to seek judicial

review. See id.

Substitution Pursuant to Rule 28

Timbercreek contends that

the trial court had jurisdiction to decide the case since Texas Rule of Civil

Procedure 28 allows a plaintiff to sue in its assumed or “common” name, and its

“true name” may be substituted later in the proceeding. According to Timbercreek,

since HCAD’s records and correspondence refer to the owner of the property as

“KMI Yorktown, LP” and not “KM-Timbercreek, LLC,” Yorktown is the “common name”

of Timbercreek. Rule 28 provides:

Any partnership, unincorporated association, private

corporation, or individual doing business under an assumed name may sue or be

sued in its partnership, assumed or common name for the purpose of enforcing

for or against it a substantive right, but on motion by any party or on the

court’s own motion the true name may be substituted.

Tex. R. Civ.

P. 28.

For a party to take

advantage of Rule 28 and sue in its common name, “there must be a showing that

the named entity is in fact doing business under that common name.” Seidler

v. Morgan , 277 S.W.3d 549, 553 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2009, pet. denied)

(emphasis added). For example, although others may commonly and informally use

the name of the premises location to refer to a particular entity, this does

not mean that the entity is “doing business under” the premises name as an

assumed or common name. Id. Whether an entity does business under an

assumed or common name is a question of fact for the trial court. Sixth RMA

Partners, L.P. a/k/a/ RMA Partners, L.P. v. Sibley , 111 S.W.3d 46, 52 (Tex.

2003). The trial court made no explicit finding on whether Yorktown is Timbercreek’s

common name, and neither party requested findings of fact on this or any other

issue. When neither party requests findings of fact and conclusions of law, we

imply all fact findings necessary to support the trial court’s judgment. Id.

A party can challenge implied fact findings for legal sufficiency. We construe

Timbercreek’s contention that the trial court erred in denying a Rule 28

substitution as a legal sufficiency challenge. See id. (“Although

Sibley does not expressly present this contention as a legal sufficiency

challenge to the implied finding of fact . . . we will

construe it as such.”). In reviewing this point, we consider the evidence in

the light most favorable to the challenged finding and indulge every reasonable

inference that would support it. See City of Keller v. Wilson , 168

S.W.3d 802, 822 (Tex. 2005). We must credit favorable evidence if a reasonable

fact-finder could do so and we must disregard contrary evidence unless a

reasonable fact-finder could not. Id. at 827 .

Timbercreek offered no evidence that

it was doing business under the Yorktown name. Timbercreek contends that the

references to Yorktown as the property owner in HCAD’s records indicate that

Yorktown is Timbercreek’s common name. This argument ignores the specific

language used in Rule 28, which frames the appropriate inquiry as not whether

HCAD refers to or addresses an entity by a particular name, but whether that

entity actually does business under the common name. Although HCAD’s appraisal

records, account information, property tax statements, notice of appraised

value, and order determining protest might be some evidence that HCAD refers to

Timbercreek as Yorktown, without more, it is not evidence that Timbercreek

conducts its business under the common name of Yorktown. See also BACM ,

2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 5528 , at *19–20 (reaching the same conclusion when HCAD’s

designation of BACM as the property owner instead of Parkwest Place in its

records was the sole evidence of common name). In contrast, the Texas Supreme

Court found sufficient evidence of operation under an assumed name in Sixth

RMA Partners . The appellants in that case produced evidence that:

Sixth RMA did not have its own stationery and that

‘RMA Partners, L.P.’ letterhead was used for all the various RMA partnerships.

Demand notices to note holders and referrals to collection attorneys were made

on the same generic ‘RMA Partners, L.P.’ letterhead, which set forth the

Columbus, Georgia business address. Further, payments on notes owned by Sixth

RMA were made to ‘RMA Partners, L.P.’ and an accounting was performed to

distribute funds to Sixth RMA.

111 S.W.3d at 52 . The Supreme Court

considered this showing as some evidence that Sixth RMA Partners conducted

business under the name RMA Partners, LP. Id.

Neither Timbercreek nor Yorktown presented

comparable evidence. See id. ; see also Mei Hsu , 2009 Tex. App.

LEXIS 7727 , at *11–12 (holding that Plaza was not the common name of Mei Hsu when

the record reflected only that Plaza sold the property to Mei Hsu three years

prior to the valuation protest). Here, HCAD’s continued designation of

Yorktown as the property owner instead of Timbercreek was entirely unilateral.

There is no evidence in the record that Timbercreek held itself out as Yorktown

or requested that HCAD refer to it as Yorktown in the appraisal records. In a

similar case involving Chapter 42 of the Tax Code, we held that HCAD’s

designation of one entity as an agent for another entity was inadequate to

actually create the agency relationship needed for standing to protest an

appraisal. See Tourneau Houston, Inc. , 24 S.W.3d at 909 (“HCAD cannot

designate an agent for Tourneau, Inc. Only the owner, Tourneau, Inc. can do

that.”). Similarly, HCAD, by its actions alone, cannot decide that Timbercreek

does business under the common name of Yorktown; only Timbercreek can establish

whether it will operate its business under an assumed or common name.

We hold that there is no evidence to

support Timbercreek’s contention that Yorktown is its “common name.” Thus, legally

sufficient evidence supports the trial court’s implied finding that Timbercreek

does not conduct business under the common name of Yorktown. We hold that the

trial court did not err in denying Yorktown’s Rule 28 motion.

Since we hold that Yorktown

is not the common name of Timbercreek and that the two are separate legal

entities, neither Yorktown nor Timbercreek had standing to seek judicial review

of the Board’s order determining protest. Yorktown, the entity that completed

the administrative protest process before the Board, did not own the property

on January 1, 2007. Timbercreek, the record legal owner on January 1, never

completed the protest process. Since neither entity completed both

requirements, we hold that neither entity had standing to seek judicial review.

Conclusion

Yorktown was not the record owner of

the property on January 1, 2007, and Timbercreek did not complete the

administrative protest before HCAD’s appraisal review board. Accordingly, we

hold that neither entity had standing to seek judicial review of the Board’s

order determining protest. We further hold that legally sufficient evidence

exists to support the trial court’s implied finding that Timbercreek did not do

business under the “common name” of Yorktown, and thus the trial court

correctly rejected Yorktown’s Rule 28 motion to substitute Timbercreek as the

plaintiff. We therefore affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Jane

Bland

Justice

Panel consists of Chief Justice

Radack and Justices Bland and Massengale.

Publish. Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.

[1]

Yorktown’s original petition and notice of

appeal list both the Harris County Appraisal District and the Appraisal Review

Board of HCAD as defendants. However, the record does not indicate that the Board

appeared in the trial court. HCAD represents that the Board was neither

served, nor did it appear. An appraisal review board is not a necessary party

to a petition for judicial review of the board’s order. Tex. Tax Code Ann . § 42.21(b)

(Vernon Supp. 2009). Since the Board is not a necessary party, and the record

does not affirmatively demonstrate that the Board was served or that it

appeared, we hold that HCAD is the only appellee properly before this court.

We also hold that the judgment of dismissal is final despite not disposing of

appellant’s claims against the Board. See In re Sheppard , 193 S.W.3d

181, 187 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, orig. proceeding) (holding that judgment

expressly disposing of served defendants, but not unserved defendants, is final

for purposes of appeal) (citing Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Penn ,

363 S.W.2d 230, 232 (Tex. 1962)).

[2] We note that while this appeal was pending, the Texas

Legislature amended section 42.21(a) to extend the time to file a petition for

review from forty-five days to sixty days from the board’s order, effective

June 19, 2009. See Tex. H.B. 986, 81st Leg., R.S. (2009) (enrolled

version). Although we decide this case under the law in effect at the time of

Yorktown’s appeal to the district court in September 2007, we also note that

Timbercreek, the true property owner, did not attempt to join as plaintiff

until June 2008, well after both the old forty-five-day and the new sixty-day

window.

[3]

Timbercreek also cites to Texas Rule of Civil

Procedure 37 for the proposition that parties may be substituted or added as

necessary. Rule 37 provides that “[b]efore a case is called for trial,

additional parties, necessary or proper parties to the suit, may be brought

in . . . upon such terms as the court may prescribe.” Tex. R. Civ. P. 37. This rule cannot

be used to circumvent the requirement that plaintiffs have standing, and thus

are proper parties, to bring suit. See Koll Bren Fund VI, LP v. HCAD ,

No. 01-07-00321-CV, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 1521 , at *10–11 (Tex. App.—Houston

[1st Dist.] Feb. 28, 2008, pet. denied) (mem. op.). As mentioned

above, since Timbercreek failed to exhaust its administrative remedies, it

lacked standing and was not a proper party to file suit. Timbercreek cannot

successfully rely upon Rule 37 to permit substitution.