In Re Kent Bates v. the State of Texas

Opinion issued November 20, 2025

In The

Court of Appeals
For The

First District of Texas
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NO. 01-25-00075-CV
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IN RE KENT BATES, JERRY BRANTON, GLEN GILL, BRADFORD
GLASS, CRAIG GRAHAM, GEWOSKI HEWITT, STERLING HUDSON,
ETHAN LAMBERT, JOSHUA STEFANIC, MONTIE WATKINS,
TIMOTHY BAKER, DONALD ENOCHS, DANIEL FLINK, BRYSON
GRIFFIN, GREGORY MALVEAUX, STEFAN MULYCA, JUSTIN
NICHOLS, RICHARD RHODES, DRAKE RIGGS, DEMETRIUS
SIMMONS, ROFFELL SMITH, HUNTER VOSS, AND JEFFREY
WRIGHT, Relators

Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus

MEMORANDUM OPINION
Relators Kent Bates, et al. filed a petition for writ of mandamus challenging

the trial court’s orders of December 18, 20241 and December 19, 2024,2 denying

relators’ motions to disqualify the law firm of Ahmad, Zavitsanos, & Mensing,

PLLC (“AZA”), counsel for Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc., Triton

Voyager Asset Leasing GmbH, and Triton Voyager Asset Leasing GmbH, Asgard

US.3 Real parties in interest Transocean and Dr. Henry Small filed responses to the

petition and relators filed a reply to the response. The Court granted relators’ motion

to stay trial court proceedings while the Court considered the petition.

We deny the petition. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.8(a). Any pending motions are

dismissed as moot. We lift the stay of trial court proceedings.

PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Justices Guerra, Guiney, and Johnson.

1
The December 18, 2024 order denied the motion to disqualify filed by real parties
in interest Timothy Baker, Donald Enochs, Daniel Flink, Bryson Griffin, Gregory
Malveaux, Stefan Mulyca, Justin Nichols, Richard Rhodes, Drake Riggs, Demetrius
Simmons, Roffell Smith, Hunter Voss, and Jeffrey Wright.
2
The December 19, 2024 order denied the motion to disqualify filed by real parties
in interest Kent Bates, Jerry Branton, Glen Gill, Bradford Glass, Craig Graham,
Gewoski Hewitt, Sterling Hudson, Ethan Lambert, Joshua Stefanic, and Montie
Watkins.
3
The underlying case is In re Hurricane Zeta Litigation, cause number 2022-36264,
pending in the 113th District Court of Harris County, Texas, the Honorable Rabeea
Sultan Collier presiding.
2