in the Matter of the Marriage of Clifford Layne Harrison and Connie v. Harrison

Opinion

ACCEPTED 14-15-00430-cv FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 12/1/2015 2:47:11 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK

CAUSE NO. 14-15-00430-CV

In the Court of Appeals 14th COURT FILED IN OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS for the Fourteenth Judicial District12/1/2015 2:47:11 PM Houston, Texas CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk

IN THE MATTER OF THE MARRIAGE OF CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON AND CONNIE V. HARRISON

On Appeal from the 311th Judicial District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2006-68864

MOTION TO DISMISS

SARAH H. JOYCE | ATTORNEY AT LAW Sarah Hirsch Joyce State Bar No. 24092522 3355 W. Alabama St. Suite 825 Houston, Texas 77098 (T) (713) 529-3982 (F) (855) 624-7224 sjoyce@sjoycelaw.com Attorney for Clifford Harrison, Appellee TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS:

Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a)(1) and prior order of

this Court, Appellee, CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON, asks this Court to dismiss

the appeal and deny Appellant, CONNIE V. HARRISON any further requested

relief. In support, Appellee would show as follows:

The Appellant filed her Notice of Appeal in this matter on April 29, 2015.

This Court gave the Appellant notice that her brief was due within thirty (30)

days of the clerk’s record in this case having been filed. The clerk’s record in this

appeal was filed on September 11, 2015. Thus, the original deadline for submission

of Appellant’s brief was October 12, 2015. Appellant’s brief was not filed.

By a letter dated October 29, 2015 this Court notified Appellant that

Appellant’s brief was now due on or before November 30, 2015 and failure to file

by November 30, 2015 would result in dismissal of the appeal for want of

prosecution.

On November 16, 2015, Mr. Alan Daughtry, Counsel for Appellant, initiated

conference with Appellee’s counsel regarding our position on an extension of time

to file Appellant’s brief. That same day, counsel notified Mr. Daughtry that

Appellee was in fact opposed to such an extension.

Nine (9) days later, on November 25, 2015, Mr. Daughtry filed a “Notice of

Appearance of Counsel for Appellant Connie Harrison” with this Court. The November 30, 2015 deadline for Appellant to submit her brief has since

come and gone, with no brief having been submitted on behalf of Appellant,

CONNIE V. HARRISON, in this matter.

On December 1, 2015, Counsel received an email from Appellant’s Counsel,

Mr. Alan Daughtry, attached was a copy of Appellant’s “Motion to Extend Time to

File Appellant’s Brief.” Mr. Daughtry advised counsel that the Motion had already

been filed with the Court, and explained that service was prevented because he

encountered an issue with counsel’s email registered with electronic service

registry. The sole copy counsel has received of Appellant’s motion is neither time-

stamped nor file-marked. Further, as of the filing of this Motion, the Court’s

website does not reflect that Appellant’s Motion to Extend has been filed with the

Court. Any difficulty encountered in filing and serving the motion may be

explained due in part to the incorrect case number listed on Appellant’s Motion.

Regardless, the fact remains that Appellant’s brief is now seven (7) weeks

past due. Appellant has already been afforded one extension with the stipulation

that failure to adhere to the deadline would result in dismissal. Furthermore, Mr.

Daughtry has been engaged in this case for some period of time and was aware of

Appellee’s opposition to any further extensions in this case, yet two (2) weeks

transpired before this request for an extension was even made. Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a)(1) allows an appellate court to

dismiss an appeal for want of prosecution in civil cases when an appellant fails to

timely file its brief.

Appellee, CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON, now asks this Court to deny

Appellant’s Motion for Extension of Time to File Appellant’s Brief and to dismiss

the appeal pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a)(1) and pursuant

to this Court’s October 29, 2015 order.

PRAYER

For these reasons, Appellee, CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON requests this

Honorable Court dismiss the appeal and grant such other and further relief for

which the Court deems proper.

Respectfully submitted,

_____________________________ SARAH HIRSCH JOYCE SBN: 24092522 3355 W. Alabama St., Suite 825 Houston, Texas 77098 Tel: (713) 529-3982 Fax: (855) 624-7224 sjoyce@sjoycelaw.com Attorney for Appellee CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that a true copy of the above was served on the following attorneys of record by the method indicated in accordance with the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure on this 1st day of December, 2015:

ALAN B. DAUGHTRY State Bar No. 00793583 3355 W. Alabama St. Suite 444 Houston, Texas 77098 (T) 281-300-5202 (F) 281-404-4478 alan@alandaughtrylaw.com Attorney for Connie V. Harrison, Appellant

_____________________________ SARAH HIRSCH JOYCE