Tinney v. Tinney Produce Company

324 S.W.2d 268
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 14, 1959
Docket13459
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 324 S.W.2d 268 (Tinney v. Tinney Produce Company) 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.

Bluebook
Tinney v. Tinney Produce Company, 324 S.W.2d 268 (Tex. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

WOODRUFF, Justice.

This is an appeal by S. D. Tinney, Jr., from an order entered March 31, 1959, by the District Court of Harris County refusing -to set aside, modify or construe a prior order of temporary injunction dated October 23, 1958, restraining appellant from engaging in certain business activities as being in competition with the business of the ap-pellee, Tinney Produce Company, Inc., in violation of a restrictive covenant contained in an employment contract theretofore entered into between them.

Appellant filed his original brief on April 10, 1959, which failed to disclose the procedural steps employed in perfecting the appeal. On April 14, 1959, appellee filed its brief. At the very outset thereof appellee suggested without amplification either by argument or citation of authority that there was a doubt concerning this Court’s jurisdiction. Two days later appellant filed his reply brief in which he set forth the filing in this Court of a certified copy of his appeal bond dated March 31, 1959, several certified copies of the District Court’s orders, the original depositions of four witnesses which were used in the several hearings, a verified statement of the testimony of one witness on a contempt hearing, and the statement of facts containing the testimony offered upon the trial, from which he appealed. There also appears in the file all of the original pleadings except those in a contempt hearing, and the original of the order dated March 31, 1959, from which he appealed. These, so appellant asserted, were filed under Rule 385(d), Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, and thus his record was perfected.

This cause was advanced on the docket and was submitted to this Court on oral argument during the forenoon of Saturday, April 18, 1959. No point was made in oral argument concerning the Court’s jurisdiction by either party.

Following the presentation of the case, a conference was held and a study of the case began. The next day was Sunday and on Monday, April 20, 1959, careful consideration was devoted to the briefs of the parties, and the numerous cases cited therein. After completing a thorough study of each party’s contention, which consumed several *270 days, the Court deemed it advisable to resort to research on the question of its jurisdiction which had not been briefed by either party.

After a careful study of the question, we have concluded that this Court is without jurisdiction of this appeal. Appellant has failed to-’ file a transcript in this case with the Clerk of .this Court within twenty days after the entry of record of the order appealed from and no motion has been filed within five days thereafter showing good cause for extending the time for the filing of a transcript.

This precise question was involved in the case of Walker v. Cleere, Tex.Civ.App., 171 S.W.2d 151, 153, in which it was held that not only should a motion to dismiss an appeal from an interlocutory order be sustained where no transcript was filed within twenty days after its entry and no motion to extend the time for the filing thereof for good cause was filed within the twenty-five day period, but it was further stated that under such circumstances “it is the duty of the court to take notice of its want of jurisdiction to determine the merits of the appeal” in the absence of a motion to dismiss.

Following that Court’s rendition of its opinion, the question was certified to the Supreme Court as to whether or not the failure of the appellee to file a motion within thirty days after a late filing of the transcript waived the right to have the case dismissed.

In Walker v. Cleere, 141 Tex. 550, 174 S.W.2d 956, 958, the Supreme Court answered the question, holding that the filing of the record in the Court of Civil Appeals within the time fixed by Rule 385 is jurisdictional and compliance therewith was not waived by failure to file a motion to dismiss within the thirty days thereafter. In the forepart of the opinion, the Court stated that this rule makes two requirements for the taking of an appeal from such orders: first, filing a bond and; second, filing the record in the appellate court within the time therein specified, both being essential. The Court then pointed out that Rule 385, T.R.C.P., regulates appeals from all interlocutory orders, including orders granting or refusing temporary injunctions, which prior to the adoption of the Rule were controlled by Article 4662. That statute, so the Court noted, provided that “Any party to a civil suit wherein a temporary injunction may be granted or refused * * * may appeal from such order or judgment to the Court of Civil Appeals by filing a transcript in such case with the clerk of the appellate court not later than twenty days after the entry of record of such order or judgment.” After observing that the period of twenty days had previously been fifteen days before the amendment of Article 4662, the Court then cited its prior holding in Baumberger v. Allen, 101 Tex. 352, 357, 107 S.W. 526, 527, where, in construing Article 4662, it was said:

“ ‘It follows, from the provisions of the law above quoted, that, in order to confer jurisdiction of the appeal upon the Court of Civil Appeals, the transcript must have been filed within 15 days from the 11th day of July, 1907.’ (The date of the entry of the order appealed from.)”

It is apparent from the foregoing that the term “record” as used in Rule 385 (b) requires the filing of a transcript, irrespective of the provisions of subdivision (d) of the rule relating to “the bill and answer and such affidavits and evidence as may have been admitted by the judge of the court below.”

Any doubt concerning the meaning of the term “record” as used is dispelled by the fact that the Supreme Court took occasion to cite the holdings in a number of cases' decided by the Court of Civil Appeals. The first was Dallas County Arcadia Fresh Water Supply Dist. No. 1 v. Pruitt, Tex.Civ.App., 245 S.W. 85. That was an appeal from an order overruling a motion to dissolve a temporary mandatory injunction. At. the outset the opinion stated:

*271 “No transcript has been filed in the case, and appellant has attempted to . submit the cause to this court for its consideration exclusively upon the following: A statement of facts, certain original pleadings, a sheet taken from the court’s trial docket, which is certified to by the district clerk, an uncerti-fied copy of the judgment entered below, and other original papers.
“Appellee has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, for the reason that appellant has not filed a transcript in this court as provided by law, but, in lieu thereof, has attempted to bring the case before this court by merely filing here original papers used in the proceedings below. This motion must be sustained.”

After discussing Articles 4644 and 4645, which under the later amendment became Article 4662, the Court said:

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324 S.W.2d 268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tinney-v-tinney-produce-company-texapp-1959.