In In re Gruss, Shawn Gruss was appointed trustee of the Gallagher Family Trust in 2016. No. 14-25-00098-CV, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 6596 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] August 25, 2025, original proceeding). In 2020, the settlor’s son sued for a declaratory judgment regarding distributions. In October of 2024, the son filed a motion to remove the trustee, and then the trustee served discovery requests on the son. The son never responded, and the trustee filed a motion to compel. At the hearing, the son orally objected to the discovery as untimely, and the trial court denied son’s motion to compel.
The central legal issue involved whether son waived any objections by failing to object in writing within the time required by Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The appellate court determined that objections to written discovery must be made in writing within the time for response, and failure to do so results in waiver unless good cause is shown. The appellate court also found that the discovery requests were made promptly after the motion to remove and that no evidence was presented to support the claim that the requests were untimely. The court held that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to compel the son to answer the discovery.
Regarding the mandamus element that there must be no adequate remedy by appeal, the court of appeals held that the denial of discovery severely compromised the trustee’s ability to defend against the motion to remove her as trustee, thus making mandamus relief appropriate.
