Eligwe, LLC v. Larry Paul Manley Junior

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 28, 2020
• Docket: 14-19-00985-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order filed January 28, 2020

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals ____________

NO. 14-19-00985-CV ____________

CHUKWUEMEKA FRANK NWANKWO AND ELIGWE, LLC, Appellants

V.

LARRY PAUL MANLEY, JR., Appellee

On Appeal from the 127th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2018-53467

ORDER

This is an appeal from a judgment signed August 29, 2019. The notice of appeal was due November 27, 2019. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1. Appellants, however, filed the notice of appeal on December 11, 2019, a date within 15 days of the due date for the notice of appeal. A motion for extension of time is necessarily implied when the perfecting instrument is filed within 15 days of its due date. Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). Appellants did not file a motion to extend time to file the notice of appeal. While an extension may be implied, appellants are still obligated to come forward with a reasonable explanation to support the late filing. See Miller v. Greenpark Surgery Center Assocs., Ltd., 974 S.W.2d 805, 808 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, no pet.). Accordingly, we ORDER appellants to file a proper motion to extend time to file the notice of appeal on or before 10 days after the date of this order. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3;10.5(b). If appellants do not comply with this order, we will dismiss the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Chief Justice Frost and Justices Christopher and Bourliot.