Robert Martinez v. Herman Trevino D/B/A Fast Organizers

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 30, 2012
• Docket: 13-12-00506-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

NUMBER 13-12-00506-CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG ___________________________________________________________

ROBERT MARTINEZ, Appellant,

v.

HERMAN TREVINO D/B/A FAST ORGANIZERS, Appellee. ____________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 7 of Hidalgo County, Texas. ____________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Garza and Vela Memorandum Opinion Per Curiam

Appellant, Robert Martinez, attempted to perfect an appeal from a judgment

entered by the County Court at Law No. 7 of Hidalgo County, Texas, in cause number

CL-06-0981-G. Judgment in this cause was signed on March 19, 2012. A motion for

new trial was filed on March 19, 2012. Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure

26.1, appellant=s notice of appeal was due on June 18, 2012, but was not filed until July 5,

2012. A motion for extension of time is necessarily implied when an appellant, acting in

good faith, files a notice of appeal beyond the time allowed by rule 26.1, but within the

fifteen-day grace period provided by Rule 26.3 for filing a motion for extension of time.

See Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617-18, 619 (1997) (construing the

predecessor to Rule 26). However, appellant must provide a reasonable explanation for

the late filing: it is not enough to simply file a notice of appeal. Id.; Woodard v. Higgins,

140 S.W.3d 462, 462 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2004, no pet.); In re B.G., 104 S.W.3d 565,

567 (Tex. App.—Waco 2002, no pet.).

On August 7, 2012, the Clerk of this Court notified appellant of this defect so that

steps could be taken to correct the defect, if it could be done. Appellant was advised

that, if the defect was not corrected within ten days from the date of receipt of this Court=s

letter, the appeal would be dismissed. To date, no response has been received from

appellant providing a reasonable explanation for the late filing of the notice of appeal.

The Court, having examined and fully considered the documents on file,

appellant=s failure to timely perfect his appeal, and appellant=s failure to respond to this

Court=s notice, is of the opinion that the appeal should be dismissed for want of

jurisdiction. Accordingly, the appeal is hereby DISMISSED FOR WANT OF

JURISDICTION. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a)(c).

PER CURIAM

Delivered and filed the 30th day of August, 2012.