In this case, the district court issued a temporary restraining order against the Office of the Attorney General and later signed two orders purporting to extend the original order. Because we conclude the orders are procedurally void, we conditionally grant the Attorney General’s petition for writ of mandamus.
These proceedings concern several orders from the 301st District Court directing that child-support payments be remitted by the Attorney General to Guardian Ad Litem (“GAL”), a private company that collects and disburses child-support payments for its clients in exchange for a fee.
In the related case, the Attorney General sought a writ of mandamus ordering modification of the approximately 560 child-support orders in Dallas and Collin Counties, which require the Attorney General to remit payments to GAL. We denied that petition for mandamus on April 4th, and appeals regarding some of those orders are still pending in the lower courts. The present petition addresses only the temporary orders issued by the 301st District Court. The Attorney General contends the temporary orders require violations of federal law by ordering payment of child-support to GAL,
see O’Donnell v. Abbott,
Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 680 and 684 require a trial court issuing a temporary restraining order to: (1) state why the order was granted without notice if it is granted
ex parte,
Tex.R. Civ. P. 680; (2) state the reasons for the issuance of the order by defining the injury and describing why it is irreparable,
id,.;
(3) state the date the order expires and set a hearing on a temporary injunction,
id.;
and (4) set a bond, Tex.R. Civ. P. 684. Orders that fail to fulfill these requirements are void.
InterFirst Bank San Felipe, N.A. v. Paz Constr. Co.,
The temporary restraining order and amended orders issued by the trial court violate these rules. The original and first amended orders were granted
ex parte
but fail to explain why they were granted without notice,
see
Tex.R. Crv. P. 680; they do not define the injury they were designed to prevent or explain why such injury would be irreparable,
see id.;
Because temporary restraining orders are not appealable, the Attorney General has no remedy by appeal.
In re Tex. Natural Res. Conservation Comm’n,
