Trustee Assumed Control of the Debtor's Claims and Sold Them

In Douglas v. Delp, 987 S.W.2d 879, 882 (Tex. 1999), the supreme court held that, once a bankruptcy petition is filed, all legal or equitable interests of the debtor become part of that estate and the bankruptcy trustee is the representative of the estate. Once a claim belongs to the estate, the trustee has exclusive standing to assert the claim. See id. In Douglas, the trustee assumed control of the debtor's claims and sold them. See id. at 881. The party who bought these claims then moved to dismiss them. See id. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss over the debtor's objection. See id. The debtor tried to appeal the dismissal, but the supreme court ruled that the debtor had no standing and dismissed the debtor's claims. See id. at 882. Although Douglas establishes that a trustee has standing to assume control of a debtor's claims, it does not address the situation presented here, where, the Trustee had the opportunity, but did not assume control of the debtor's claims in the 215th District Court.