in the Interest of N.V.R., D.A.R., and J.T.R., Children
This text of in the Interest of N.V.R., D.A.R., and J.T.R., Children (in the Interest of N.V.R., D.A.R., and J.T.R., Children) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
No. 06-18-00038-CV
IN THE INTEREST OF N.V.R., D.A.R., AND J.T.R., CHILDREN
On Appeal from the 124th District Court Gregg County, Texas Trial Court No. 2007-2400-B
Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Burgess MEMORANDUM OPINION On November 3, 2016, the 307th Judicial District Court of Gregg County entered an Order
in Suit to Modify Parent-Child Relationship and Adjudication of Parentage. In January 2017,
William Runnels filed a direct appeal from that order. Our opinion affirming the trial court’s order
issued on August 31, 2017,1 and the mandate in that appeal issued on November 16, 2017. On
November 21, 2017, the presiding judge of the 307th Judicial District Court recused from this case,
and the case was reassigned and transferred to the 124th Judicial District Court of Gregg County.
On December 20, 2017, Runnels filed a Motion to Vacate Void Judgment in the 124th Judicial
District Court seeking to void the November 3, 2016, order entered by the 307th Judicial District
Court, and on February 27, 2018, Runnels filed an amended motion also seeking to void the
November 3 order. The 124th Judicial District Court heard Runnels’ amended motion on March 2,
2018, and on March 19, 2018, the trial court entered an order denying that motion. Thereafter,
Runnels filed a notice of appeal attempting to appeal from the trial court’s March 19, 2018, order
denying his Amended Motion to Vacate or Set Aside Void Judgment.
The jurisdiction of an appellate court is constitutional and statutory in nature. See TEX.
CONST. art. V, § 6; TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 22.220 (West Supp. 2017). Unless we are given
specific authority over an appeal from a particular type of order, we have jurisdiction only over
appeals from final judgments. Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001). The
trial court’s March 19 order from which Runnels is attempting to appeal is not a final judgment.
The question, then, is whether either the Texas Constitution or the Texas Legislature has granted
1 In re N.V.R., No. 06-17-00023-CV, 2017 WL 3751525 (Tex. App.—Texarkana Aug. 31, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op.).
2 this Court jurisdiction to hear the type of direct appeal that Runnels has noticed. The answer to
that question appears to be that the trial court’s March 19 order does not constitute an appealable
order. See Vega v. Lira, No. 01-16-00369-CV, 2016 WL 4253696, at *2 (Tex. App.—Houston
[1st Dist.] Aug. 11, 2016, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op.) (citing TEX. FAM. CODE ANN.
§ 109.002(b); TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 51.014(a) (1)–(12)).
By letter dated June 27, 2018, we informed Runnels of this potential defect in our
jurisdiction and afforded him the opportunity to demonstrate proper grounds for our retention of
the appeal. While Runnels did file a response and filed an amended notice of appeal, neither his
response nor his amended notice address the jurisdictional issues raised in our June 27 letter.
In light of the foregoing, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.
Ralph K. Burgess Justice
Date Submitted: July 16, 2018 Date Decided: July 17, 2018
Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI
Related
Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
in the Interest of N.V.R., D.A.R., and J.T.R., Children, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-nvr-dar-and-jtr-children-texapp-2018.