The City of Mobile (‘‘the City”) and Cassandra Matthews have .been before this court in a previous matter. In Matthews v. City of Mobile,
This court’s opinion in Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra, was released on December 5, 2014, and this court denied Matthews’s application for rehearing on February 13, 2015. Matthews filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to our supreme court, and our supreme court denied her petition on April 10,2015.
The current record on appeal indicates that while Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra, was pending in the trial court and in this court, Matthews had been reinstated to her “employment” pursuant to the void July 26, 2011, decision of the Board.
The trial court entered a judgment on September 15, 2015, in which it purported to affirm the Board’s July 2, 2013, decision. However, after considering Matthews’s postjudgment motion, the trial court, on December 1, 2015, entered a new judgment in which it purported to reverse the Board’s July 2, 2013, decision and to order that Matthews be reinstated to her employment. The trial court based its December 1, 2015, judgment on its determination that the Board had violated Matthews’s constitutional due-process rights by refusing to allow Matthews to be present at the hearing before the Board. The City timely appealed to this court on December 8, 2015. On appeal, the City argues that the trial court erred in failing to affirm the Board’s decision, and it argues that the trial court erred in basing its ruling on a constitutional issue not properly raised by the parties.
After the City’s appeal was submitted to this court, this court entered an order requesting that the parties submit letter briefs on the issue of whether the decision in Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra (and our supreme court’s denial of the writ of certiorari as to that appeal), rendered moot the issues presently before this court. Both parties submitted letter briefs.
In her letter brief, Matthews argues that this appeal is “controlled and limited” by the current record on appeal. Matthews maintains that because the record on appeal, as designated by the City in filing its notice of appeal, purportedly does not contain information about the litigation in Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra, there is no indication that the City’s current appeal is moot. However, a court may take judicial notice of its own records. See Butler v. Olshan,
In its letter brief, the City asserts that this court’s holding in Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra, renders issues pertaining to the 2013 termination of Matthews’s employment moot.
“ ‘ “ A moot case or question is a case or question in or on which there is no real controversy; a case which seeks to determine an abstract question which does not rest on existing facts or rights, or involve conflicting rights so far as plaintiff is concerned.’” Case v. Alabama State Bar,939 So.2d 881 , 884 (Ala. 2006) (quoting American Fed’n of State, County & Mun. Employees v. Dawkins,268 Ala. 13 , 18,104 So.2d 827 , 830-31 (1958)). “The test for mootness is commonly stated as whether the court’s action on the merits would affect the rights of the parties.” Crawford v. State,153 S.W.3d 497 , 501 (Tex.App. 2004) (citing VE Corp. v. Ernst & Young,860 S.W.2d 83 , 84 (Tex.1993)). “A case becomes moot if at any stage there ceases to be an actual controversy between the parties.” Id. (emphasis added) (citing National Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Jones,1 S.W.3d 83 , 86 (Tex.1999)).’ ”
Underwood v. Alabama State Bd. of Educ.,
In this case, Matthews’s employment was terminated in May 2011, and no valid appeal was taken from that termination decision. Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra. Although the Board purported to enter an order reinstating Matthews on July 26, 2011, that order was void. Id. Accordingly, Matthews was not validly employed by the City at the time the City again attempted to terminate her “employment” in January 2013. This court’s review of the City’s 2013 termination decision, therefore, would be meaningless because this court’s decision in Matthews v, City of Mobile, supra, established that the termination of her employment in May 2011 was effective. Therefore, there is no controversy concerning Matthews’s employment that can be decided by this
The City argues in its letter brief submitted to this court, however, that this court should consider the merits of the appeal, regardless of the fact that the dispute between the parties-is moot, under an exception to the rule that courts lack jurisdiction to consider moot issues. There are two exceptions to the prohibition against considering a dispute that is moot: “ ‘questions of great public interest and questions that are likely of repetition of the situation.’ ” Underwood v. Alabama State Bd. of Educ.,
“‘The criteria for applying the public interest exception to the mootness doctrine include the public nature of the question, the desirability of an authoritative determination for the purpose of guiding public officers, and the likelihood that the question will generally recur.’ [1A C.J.S. Actions § 81 (2005) ] (footnote omitted). However, this ‘exception is construed narrowly ... and a clear showing of each criterion is required to bring a case within its terms.’ In re Adoption of Walgreen,186 Ill.2d 362 , 365,238 Ill.Dec. 124 [125],710 N.E.2d 1226 , 1227 (1999).”
Chapman v. Gooden,
The City argues that the issue it presents has the requisite public nature and that it is likely that the question will recur. See Chapman v. Gooden,
The City argues in its appeal of the December 1, 2015, judgment, and in its letter brief to this court, that the trial court erred by deciding the purported dispute concerning the 2013 termination of Matthews’s “employment” on a constitutional basis. It contends that the trial court could not properly consider that constitutional issue as a part of Matthews’s administrative appeal from the decision of the Board. The City relies on Wright v. City of Mobile,
The matter before this court is moot, and the appeal is therefore dismissed. Underwood v. Alabama State Bd. of Educ.,
APPEAL DISMISSED.
Notes
. This court also held that, although the Board had had jurisdiction to consider Matthew’s 24-hour suspension, Matthews had improperly attempted to appeal the Board’s af-firmance of that decision via another e-mail. Therefore, this court held that the trial court never obtained jurisdiction to review the suspension decision. Matthews v. City of Mobile,
. The decision in Matthews v, City of Mobile, supra, by determining that the July 26, 2011, decision of the Board was void, necessarily means that the May 2, 2011, termination of Matthews’s employment remained effective by virtue of Matthews’s failure to properly appeal the termination of her employment. Accordingly, Matthews was not properly reinstated to her employment under the void July 26, 2011, decision of the Board.
. Matthews has not argued that this court may not, under the holding of Butler v. 01-shan, take judicial notice of our own record and opinion in Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra. We note that under Butler v. Olshan, supra, an appellate court may take judicial notice of its own record in another case if the following circumstances are met:
"First, the pleading in the instant case must refer to the other proceeding; second, the other proceeding must be of record in the trial court whose decree or judgment is the basis for the instant appeal; and, third, the prior proceeding must be of record in [the appellate court] in another appeal here or be set out in the instant record.”
In this case, the underlying action in Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra, was decided by the trial court and was of record in this court. Also, in this case, Matthews referred to the 2011 termination decision, and to the then-pending appeal of that decision in the trial court, and she sought to incorporate her arguments asserted in that appeal in her challenge to the January 29, 2013, termination decision. In her brief submitted to this court, Matthews also refers to facts relating to the litigation pertaining to her 2011 termination and to this court’s decision in the appeal pertaining to that termination decision, although she does not specifically cite Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra. Accordingly, this court could, and does, properly take judicial notice of its own record in Matthews v. City of Mobile, supra.