Nikki Sides Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Thomas Middleton v. Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Opinion

ACCEPTED 01-15-00004 FIRST COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 11/20/2015 11:56:08 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK

No. 01-15-00004-CV

FILED IN 1st COURT OF APPEALS IN THE HOUSTON, TEXAS 11/20/2015 11:56:08 PM FIRST COURT OF APPEALS CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk

HOUSTON, TEXAS

NIKKI SIDES, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF THOMAS MIDDLETON

Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Defendant-Appellee

On Appeal from the 400th Judicial District Court, Fort Bend County; Trial Cause No. 14-DCV-212749

APPELLANT’S SECOND MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE MOTIONS FOR REHEARING AND REHEARING EN BANC

TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS:

Comes Now Nikki Sides individually and on behalf of the estate of Thomas

Middleton, the Plaintiff-Appellant, (hereafter “Appellant”), and files this her Motion

for Extension of time to file a motion for rehearing and/or rehearing en banc from,

and would respectfully show the following: 1. Appellant brought this suit against the Texas Department of Criminal

Justice for injuries and death caused by their conditions and/or use of property,

under the Texas Tort Claims Act, Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code chapter

101.

2. On December 5, 2014, the trial court dismissed Appellant’s claims,

granting the plea to the jurisdiction of Defendant-Appellee, Texas Department of

Criminal Justice.

3. Appellant timely appealed to this Court.

4. On November 3, 2015, the Court issued an opinion affirming the

decision of the trial court.

5. The original deadline for seeking rehearing and rehearing en banc is

November 18, 2015.

6. Appellant filed a motion seeking an extension of time by two (2) days,

until November 20, 2015, which the Court granted.

7. Appellant’s undersigned counsel requires an additional one (1) calendar

day to complete the filing. Counsel has worked diligently on the motion(s), but has

experienced unexpected technical issues that caused the loss of portions of the

briefing, and loss of time attempting to retrieve material and resolve the problem.

8. Appellant’s counsel requires additional time to adequately and clear ly

brief the issues for the Court’s consideration.

2 CONCLUSION & PRAYER

WHEREFORE, Appellant respectfully prays that the Honorable Court grant

this Motion and extend the time for Appellant to file motions seeking rehearing

and/or rehearing en banc until and through November 23, 2015.

This Motion is not made for delay alone, but that justice be done.

Respectfully Submitted,

/s/ Larry Watts Laurence (“Larry”) Watts State Bar No. 20981000 Melissa Azadeh State Bar No. 24064851 P.O. Box 2214 Missouri City, Texas 77459 Tel (281) 431-1500 Fax (877) 797-4055 wattstrial@gmail.com

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT

3 VERIFICATION

I, Larry Watts, verify on penalty of perjury that above and foregoing facts

not contained within the record are true and correct to my personal knowledge.

November 20, 2015 /s/ Larry Watts Dated Laurence (“Larry”) Watts

4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on this 20th day of November 2015, a true and correct

copy of the foregoing document was served on opposing counsel(s) of record by e-

service, if available, and/or by facsimile transmission, to:

Kim Coogan Assistant Attorney General Law Enforcement Defense Division Office of the Attorney General of Texas Post Office Box 12548 Austin, Texas 78711 Email: kim.coogan@texasattorneygeneral.gov

/s/ Larry Watts Laurence (“Larry”) Watts

5 CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

I hereby certify that due to the late hour and unanticipated nature of this

Motion, I have not been able to confer with opposing counsel of record, Ms. Kim

Coogan. It should therefore be assumed that the Motion is opposed.