Dov Avni Kaminetzky v. Harris County Appraisal District

Opinion

ACCEPTED 14-14-00665-CV FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 3/27/2015 2:27:57 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK

No. 14-14-00665-CV ______________________________________________________________________________ In the Court of Appeals For the Fourteenth District of Texas At Houston ______________________________________________________________________________

No. 2013-12988 In the 234th District Court of Harris County, Texas ______________________________________________________________________________

DOV K. AVNI Appellant,

v.

HARRIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT, Appellee ______________________________________________________________________________

APPELLEE’S OPPOSITION TO APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR SECOND EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE APPELLANT’S BRIEF AND APPENDIX ______________________________________________________________________________

TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS OF TEXAS:

COMES NOW THE HARRIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT, Appellee, by and

through its undersigned counsel, and files this, its Opposition to Appellant’s First Extension of

Time to File Appellant’s Brief and Appendix (the “Motion to Extend Time”) and in support of its

Opposition states as follows:

Overview

1. Appellant’s brief was due on or before March 26, 2015. Appellant’s arguments for an

extension of time are without merit and the Second Motion to Extend Time should be denied.

Appellant’s Motion to Extend Time is Without Merit.

1 2. Appellant’s brief was due on or before March 26, 2015. Appellant’s Second Motion to

Extend Time was filed March 26, 2015. The Second Motion to Extend Time requests an

extension of twenty-two days to file the brief, until April 17, 2015.

3. Rule 10.5(b)(1)(C) requires that a motion to extend time contain “the facts relied on to

reasonably explain the need for an extension.” See also Rios v. Calhoon, 889 S.W.2d 257, 259

(Tex.1994)(“A party seeking an extension of time in the court of appeals is required to file a

motion specifically stating the facts that reasonably explain the need for an extension.”).

4. Appellant asserts that there are “exceptional circumstances,” relating to the valuation of

property for tax year 2014 – a matter wholly unrelated to the underlying lawsuit and the present

appeal pending before this court. Appellant references numerous cases and state court lawsuits

he has filed, none of which are related to the appeal in the underlying case. Further, Appellant

claims to have obtained records and documents, not part of the underlying trial court record,

which he intends on using in his brief and presenting as evidence to the Court of Appeals in the

instant appeal.

5. “A reasonable explanation for the need for an extension of time is ‘any plausible

statement of circumstances indicating that failure to file within the [required] period was not

deliberate or intentional, but was the result of inadvertence, mistake[,] or mischance.’” Pidcock

v. City of Wichita Falls, No. 2-05-244-CV, 2006 WL 668709, at *1 (Tex. App. – Fort Worth,

Mar. 16, 2006, pet. denied), citing Hone v. Hanafin, 104 S.W.3d 884, 886 (Tex.2003).

6. The Second Motion to Extend Time states no reasonable explanation for the need for a

further extension of time. Appellant’s citations to causes of action which are unrelated to the

underlying state court case which is the subject of this instant appeal, and which have no bearing

2 on the ultimate disposition of this case, are not a reasonable explanation of why a second

extension of time is warranted.

7. Appellant has advanced no reasonable explanation why an extension of time should be

granted in this case. Appellee would be prejudiced by a grant of an extension of time where such

request is made with no foundation or relation to the instant proceeding. Appellant’s Motion to

Extend Time should be denied.

WHEREFORE, premises considered, Appellee requests that the honorable Court of

Appeals deny Appellant’s Motion to Extend Time to File Appellant’s Brief and Appendix.

Respectfully submitted,

By: /s/ L. Susan Herrera L. Susan Herrera State Bar No.09530160 Matthew P. Crouch State Bar No. 24072481 Department of Legal Services Harris County Appraisal District P. O Box 920975 Houston, Texas 77292-0975 Telephone: (713) 957-7497 Fax: (713) 957-5219 sherrera@hcad.org; mcrouch@hcad.org ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANT, HARRIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on March 27, 2015, a true and correct copy of the foregoing Motion to Dismiss was served via: telecopy certified mail, return receipt requested hand delivery

to Dov K. Avni, 150-B Forest Drive, Jericho, NY 11753.

/s/ L. Susan Herrera L. Susan Herrera

3 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

Pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(i)(3), I certify that the forgoing Appellee’s Opposition is a computer-generated document containing 728 words, including textboxes, footnotes, endnotes, headings, and/or quotations. I certify that I am relying upon the word count provided by the computer program that I used in preparing this document.

/s/ L. Susan Herrera L. Susan Herrera