Isia Mornes v. Heather Cooper

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 4, 2024
• Docket: 02-23-00439-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-23-00439-CV ___________________________

ISIA MORNES, Appellant

V.

HEATHER COOPER, Appellee

On Appeal from the 431st District Court Denton County, Texas Trial Court No. 22-3411-431

Before Womack, Wallach, and Walker, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Womack MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Isia Mornes attempts to appeal from the trial court’s July 21, 2023

order dismissing her case for want of prosecution. Because Mornes timely filed a

verified motion to reinstate, her notice of appeal was due October 19, 2023—ninety

days after the trial court’s dismissal order. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(a)(3). But Mornes

did not file her notice of appeal until November 17, 2023, making it untimely. See id.

While Mornes filed a motion requesting that we extend the time for the filing of her

notice of appeal, we denied the motion because her motion and notice of appeal were

filed more than fifteen days from the notice of appeal’s due date. See Tex. R. App.

P. 26.3 (providing that motion for extension and notice of appeal must be filed within

fifteen days after deadline for filing notice of appeal).

On November 29, 2023, we notified the parties by letter of our concern that

we lack jurisdiction over this appeal because the notice of appeal was untimely. See

Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(a)(3). We warned that we could dismiss this appeal for want of

jurisdiction unless Mornes or any party desiring to continue the appeal filed a

response by December 11, 2023, showing grounds for continuing the appeal. See Tex.

R. App. P. 42.3(a), 44.3. We have received no response.

The time for filing a notice of appeal is jurisdictional in this court, and without

a timely filed notice of appeal or a timely filed extension request, we must dismiss the

appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.1(b), 26.1, 26.3; Jones v. City of Houston, 976 S.W.2d 676,

677 (Tex. 1998); Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). Because

2 Mornes’s notice of appeal was untimely—as was her motion for extension of the time

to file her notice of appeal—we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex.

R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f); City of Edinburg v. Permapac Inc., No. 13-22-00221-CV, 2022

WL 2251822, at *1 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi–Edinburg, June 23, 2022, no pet.)

(mem. op.) (“Appellant’s notice of appeal was untimely, and appellant’s motion for

extension of time to file the notice of appeal was untimely; therefore, we lack

jurisdiction over the appeal.”).

/s/ Dana Womack

Dana Womack Justice

Delivered: January 4, 2024