Joy Thornton and Greater St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, Appellants-Defendants v. Latashia White and Eleven Steps Youth Center, Appellees-Plaintiffs (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

[1] Latashia White and Eleven Steps Youth Center (“Tenants”) rented space from Joy Thornton and Greater St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church (“Landlords”) to operate a daycare. In June 2025, Tenants brought a small-claims action against Landlords, seeking $10,000 for “Damaged property, pain, suffering, intimidation, [and] known structural damage not disclosed.” Appellants’ App. Vol. 2 p. 74. A dispute over possession of the leased premises ensued, and the small-claims court issued several orders preserving Tenants’ right of access pending a final hearing. On July 17, Landlords initiated this appeal under Indiana Appellate Rule 14(A)(4), which allows a party to bring an interlocutory appeal as a matter of right from an interlocutory order “[f]or the sale or delivery of the possession of real property[.]”

[2] But on August 28, while this appeal was pending, the parties submitted, and the small-claims court approved, an agreement stating that Tenants would vacate the leased premises the next day (August 29). See id. at 178-79. In their appellate brief filed on September 30, Landlords noted that agreement and made no claim that Tenants had violated it or otherwise remained in possession of the leased premises. Therefore, while the issue of damages remains pending in the small-claims court, the issue of possession is moot, so we dismiss this interlocutory appeal. See DeCola v. Starke Cnty. Election Bd., 146 N.E.3d 1084, 1085 (Ind. Ct. App. 2020) (“A case should be dismissed as moot when no effective relief can be rendered to the parties before the court.”).

[3] Dismissed.

Vaidik, Judge.

Mathias, J., and Pyle, J., concur.