Rodolfo Urrutia and Claudia Urrutia v. the City of Waco, Texas and Waco ISD

Opinion

Court of Appeals

Tenth Appellate District of Texas

10-25-00276-CV

Rodolfo Urrutia and Claudia Urrutia, Appellants

v.

The City of Waco, Texas and Waco ISD, Appellees

On appeal from the

474th District Court of McLennan County, Texas Judge E. Alan Bennett, presiding Trial Court Cause No. 2025-275-6

JUSTICE SMITH delivered the opinion of the Court.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellants, Rodolfo Urrutia and Claudia Urrutia, appealed “from any final judgment rendered in this case.” The “judgment” in question is a notice of nonsuit filed by the City of Waco, Texas and Waco Independent School District. No final judgment has been signed in this proceeding.

By letter dated August 20, 2025, the Clerk of this Court informed the appellants that there appears to be no final, appealable judgment in this proceeding and questioned the Court’s jurisdiction over the appeal. Appellants were ordered to respond to the Clerk’s letter, and they filed a response with the trial court clerk that this Court has received in a clerk’s record.

“Appellate timetables do not run from the date a nonsuit is filed, but rather from the date the trial court signs an order of dismissal.” In re Bennett, 960 S.W.2d 35, 38 (Tex. 1997) (citing Farmer v. Ben E. Keith Co., 907 S.W.2d 495, 496 (Tex. 1995) ("The appellate timetable does not commence to run other than by a signed, written order, even when the signing of such an order is purely ministerial.")). Because no order of dismissal has been signed, there is no final judgment for purposes of appeal. In re Bennett, 960 S.W.2d at 38 (Tex. 1997).

Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Appellants’

motion for emergency relief is dismissed as moot.

STEVE SMITH

Justice

OPINION DELIVERED and FILED: September 11, 2025 Before Chief Justice Johnson, Justice Smith, and Justice Harris Appeal dismissed; Motion dismissed CV06

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