Kenedy County Wide School District v. Glenn Hegar, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, in His Official and Individual Capacity

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 7, 2025
• Docket: 15-24-00079-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 15-24-00079-CV FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 1/7/2025 5:12 PM No. 15-24-00079-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK

In the Court of Appeals for the Fifteenth Judicial District FILED IN 15th COURT OF APPEALS

Austin, Texas AUSTIN, TEXAS 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk Kenedy County Wide School District, Appellant, v. Glenn Hegar, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, in His Official and Individual Capacities, Appellee.

On Appeal from the 353rd Judicial District Court, Travis County

Unopposed Motion to Extend Time to File Appellee’s Brief

To the Honorable Fifteenth Court of Appeals:

1. As currently scheduled under the Parties’ November 12, 2024

Agreed Motion for Extension of Time, which the Court granted by Order of

November 26, 2024, Appellee Glenn Hegar, Texas Comptroller of Public

Accounts, in his Official and Individual Capacities, is scheduled to file his

brief on January 27, 2025, following service of Appellant’s brief on December 12,

2024. 2. Pursuant to Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 38.6(d) and 10.5(b),

Appellee seeks an extension of one month, from January 27, 2025 to

February 28, 2025 to file his brief.

3. Shortly after the filing of Appellant’s brief, Appellee filed his

December 20, 2024 Motion to Withdraw and Notice of Lead Counsel, which related

to the withdrawal of former lead counsel Kirstin M. Erickson, who has accepted a

position outside the Office of the Attorney General, and the appointing of

Thomas Bevilacqua as new lead counsel of record. While new counsel has read into

and familiarized himself with the matter before and after the holiday break, he

expects to have difficulty completing Appellee’s brief by the January 27, 2025

deadline due to other to professional deadlines. Among his ongoing obligations,

counsel is representing a state agency in a significant and highly contentious

procurement dispute; counsel is currently briefing pending motions to compel and

to stay discovery as well as a plea to the jurisdiction, and preparing for a hearing in

early February on said motions and plea. Counsel is also preparing a plea to the

jurisdiction hearing later in February in a grant dispute matter for the same agency,

while also dealing with his other active cases as a member of the General Litigation

Division of the Office of the Attorney General. For these reasons, an extension of

time is respectfully requested to file Appellee’s Response brief in this matter.

2 4. This extension is sought in the interest of justice and not for delay. No

party will be prejudiced if this request for an extension is granted. Counsel for

Appellant, Judith Hargrove, indicated to the undersigned counsel that she has no

objection to an extension of Appellee’s briefing deadline to February 28, 2025.

5. The above-mentioned November 12, 2024 Agreed Motion for

Extension of Time was filed to account for delays encountered by the Parties in the

constitution of the appellate record, in relation more specifically to the inclusion

therein of the full administrative record. The present Motion, by contrast, represents

Appellee’s first sole request for an extension of time.

6. For the foregoing reasons, Appellee respectfully requests that the Court

grant a one-month extension of time to file his brief, making that brief due on

February 28, 2025.

3 Respectfully submitted,

Ken Paxton /s/ Thomas Bevilacqua Attorney General of Texas THOMAS BEVILACQUA Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster Texas Bar No. 00793342 First Assistant Attorney General Office of the Attorney General General Litigation Division Ralph Molina P.O. Box 12548, Capitol Station Deputy First Assistant Attorney General Austin, Texas 78711-2548 (512) 936-1162 | FAX: (512) 320-0667 James LLoyd thomas.bevilacqua@oag.texas.gov Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE

Kimberly Gdula Chief for General Litigation Division

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

I certify that on January 3, 2025, I conferred with counsel for Appellant, Judith

Hargrove, who indicated on January 4, 2025, that she did not oppose the relief

requested herein.

/s/ Thomas Bevilacqua THOMAS BEVILACQUA Assistant Attorney General

4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing instrument has

been served electronically through the electronic-filing manager in compliance with

Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21a on January 7, 2025, to:

Jim L. Lambeth Jim.Lambeth@lgbs.com

Judith Hargrove judy@hargrovelawtx.com

/s/ Thomas Bevilacqua THOMAS BEVILACQUA Assistant Attorney General

5 Automated Certificate of eService This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system. The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Troy Sager on behalf of Thomas Bevilacqua Bar No. 793342 troy.sager@oag.texas.gov Envelope ID: 95961983 Filing Code Description: Motion Filing Description: 20250107_ MTE Appellees Brief Status as of 1/8/2025 7:03 AM CST

Associated Case Party: Kenedy County Wide Common School District

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Jim LLambeth Jim.Lambeth@lgbs.com 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM SENT

Sharita Morrow Sharita.Morrow@lgbs.com 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM SENT

Ethan Ranis 24098303 ethan.ranis@lgbs.com 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM SENT

Richard Brand richard.brand@lgbs.com 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM SENT

Judith Hargrove 11595050 judy@hargrovelawtx.com 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM SENT

Associated Case Party: GLENN HEGAR, TEXAS COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Thomas Bevilacqua thomas.bevilacqua@oag.texas.gov 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM SENT

Troy Sager troy.sager@oag.texas.gov 1/7/2025 5:12:22 PM SENT