Writ of Mandamus to Permit the Attorney General to Intervene In Administrative Proceedings

In State v. Thomas, 766 S.W.2d at 217, and Chemical Bank & Trust Co. v. Falkner, 369 S.W.2d 427 (Tex. 1963), the State, as an electricity consumer, filed a petition for writ of mandamus against Dennis Thomas, Jo Campbell, and Mart Greytok, the PUC's chairman and commissioners, respectively. The State sought mandamus to compel the individual commissioners to perform their duty to permit the Attorney General to intervene in the underlying administrative proceeding. The State asserted jurisdiction under section 22.002(a) of the Government Code. In Thomas, the Court disregarded this omission in its opinion. Instead, the Court concluded that the Public Utility Commission could not constitutionally deny the Attorney General's intervention on behalf of consumer state agencies. Thomas, 766 S.W.2d at 219. And then, without discussing its mandamus jurisdiction, it granted the writ and ordered the "Public Utility Commission" -- not the individual commissioners -- to vacate its order. Thomas, 766 S.W.2d at 220.