Tamara Angela Griffin v. James Henry Thomas, Sr.

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 30, 2024
• Docket: 08-24-00003-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS EL PASO, TEXAS

TAMARA ANGELA GRIFFIN, § No. 08-24-00003-CV

Appellant, § Appeal from the

v. § 383rd Judicial District Court

JAMES HENRY THOMAS, SR., § of El Paso County, Texas

Appellee. § (TC# 2020DCM1006)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This appeal is before the Court on its own motion to determine whether it should be

dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Concluding that Appellant’s notice of appeal is untimely, we

dismiss the appeal.

A party perfects a civil appeal by timely filing a notice of appeal within 30 days after a

final judgment is signed. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1. A timely post-trial motion, such as a motion for

new trial, extends the timeline for perfecting an appeal to 90 days after the judgment is signed.

TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1(a)(1). A motion for new trial is timely filed within 90 days of the date the

judgment is signed. TEX. R. CIV. P. 329b(a).

Appellant filed a notice of appeal on January 12, 2024, attempting to appeal the trial court’s

final judgment signed on October 12, 2023. The docketing certificate indicates that Appellant filed an untimely motion for new trial on January 11, 2024. Because the motion for new trial was

untimely, the deadline for filing Appellant’s notice of appeal was not extended and the notice was

due on or before November 11, 2023. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1

On January 12, 2024, the Clerk of this Court sent Appellant a letter indicating that the

appeal was not timely perfected. The letter gave notice of our intent to dismiss the appeal for want

of jurisdiction, after ten days, unless grounds were shown for the Court to continue the appeal. See

TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a). Appellant did not respond to this Court’s notice. Accordingly, we find that

Appellant failed to perfect her appeal because she filed the notice of appeal outside of the

applicable time limit. We dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1, 42.3(a),

(c), 43.2(f).

JEFF ALLEY, Chief Justice

January 30, 2024

Before Alley, C.J., Palafox and Soto, JJ.