Stephen Patrick Black v. Amy Curtis, Law Library Attendant MTC Employee at TCCC
This text of Stephen Patrick Black v. Amy Curtis, Law Library Attendant MTC Employee at TCCC (Stephen Patrick Black v. Amy Curtis, Law Library Attendant MTC Employee at TCCC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo
No. 07-24-00300-CV
STEPHEN PATRICK BLACK, APPELLANT
V.
AMY CURTIS, MTC LAW LIBRARY ATTENDANT, APPELLEE
On Appeal from the County Court Lamb County, Texas Trial Court No. CC-3442, Honorable James M. DeLoach, Presiding
February 20, 2025 ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND Before QUINN, C.J., and PARKER and YARBROUGH, JJ.
Appellant, Stephen Patrick Black, appeals from the trial court’s order granting
summary judgment in favor of Appellee, Amy Curtis. The clerk’s record was originally
due November 12, 2024, but was not filed. We subsequently granted the trial court clerk
three extensions to file the record due to her caseload. By letter of January 13, 2025, we
notified the trial court clerk no further extensions would be granted and that failure to file
the clerk’s record by February 12 would result in the appeal being abated and the cause remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. The clerk has not filed the record or
had any further communication with this Court to date.
Accordingly, we abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for further
proceedings. See TEX. R. APP. P. 35.3(c) (“The trial and appellate courts are jointly
responsible for ensuring that the appellate record is timely filed.”); 37.3(a)(2) (requiring
appellate courts to “make whatever order is appropriate to avoid further delay and to
preserve the parties’ rights” when the appellate record is not timely filed). On remand,
the trial court shall determine the following:
(1) what tasks remain to complete the filing of the clerk’s record;
(2) why the clerk has not completed the necessary tasks;
(3) what amount of time is reasonably necessary for the completion of those
tasks; and
(4) whether the clerk can complete the tasks within the time the trial court
finds reasonable.
The trial court is directed to enter such orders necessary to address the
aforementioned questions. So too shall it include its findings on those matters in a
supplemental clerk’s record and cause that record to be filed with this Court by March 24,
2025.
Should the clerk file the record on or before March 6, 2025, she is directed to
immediately notify the trial court of the filing, in writing, whereupon the trial court shall not
be required to take any further action.
It is so ordered.
Per Curiam
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