Sarita Garg, Smith & Garg, LLC and Garg & Associates, PC v. Tuan M. Pham

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: November 7, 2014
• Docket: 14-14-00787-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order filed October 21, 2014.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals ____________

NO. 14-14-00787-CV ____________

SARITA GARG, SMITH & GARG, LLC AND GARG & ASSOCIATES, PC, Appellants

V.

TUAN M. PHAM, Appellee

On Appeal from the 215th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2008-43381

ORDER

This is an accelerated appeal from an interlocutory order denying appellants’ motion to compel arbitration signed August 25, 2014. Appellants’ notice of appeal was due September 15, 2014. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(b); 4.1(a) (extending the deadline when the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday). Appellants’ notice of appeal was not filed until September 30, 2014, within the fifteen-day period for requesting an extension of time. Appellants did not file a motion to extend time to file the notice of appeal, however. A motion for extension of time is “necessarily implied” when the perfecting instrument is filed within fifteen days of its due date. Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). While an extension may be implied, appellants are still obligated to come forward with a reasonable explanation to support the late filing. See Miller v. Greenpark Surgery Center Assocs., Ltd., 974 S.W.2d 805, 808 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, no pet.). Accordingly, we ORDER appellants to file a proper motion to extend time to file the notice of appeal within 15 days of the date of this order. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3; 10.5(b). If appellants do not comply with this order, we will dismiss the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3.

PER CURIAM