Opinion
NO. 01-18-00639-CV
04-30-2019
LORUHAMAH DICKEY, Appellant v. HARRIS COUNTY, CITY OF HOUSTON, HOUSTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM, HOUSTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellees
On Appeal from the 125th District Court Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 2016-02269
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant, Loruhamah Dickey, proceeding pro se, timely filed a notice of appeal from the June 15, 2018 final judgment in this property tax case. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1.
This Court's March 19, 2019 Order struck the March 11, 2019 pro se appellant's brief as non-compliant and ordered appellant to file a compliant amended brief within 10 days. It also denied without prejudice appellees' motion to dismiss for want of prosecution.
Then this Court's April 9, 2019 Order denied appellant's construed motion for notice of removal to federal court and ordered her to file an amended brief that complied with Rule 38.1 within 10 days of that Order. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.1(a)-(k), 38.9(a). The Order further notified appellant that, because appellees' brief had been filed on March 15, 2019, the Court might affirm the trial court's judgment upon the appellees' brief without examining the record if no appellant's brief were timely filed. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(3).
On April 8 and 25, 2019, the appellees filed a second and third motion to dismiss for want of prosecution. Appellant failed to timely file her amended brief.
When an appellant fails to file a brief in a civil appeal, as here, the appellate court may: (1) dismiss the appeal for want of prosecution; (2) decline to dismiss the appeal and give further direction to the case as it considers proper; or (3) regard an appellee's brief as correctly presenting the case and affirm the trial court's judgment on that brief without examining the record. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a). On March 15, 2019, the appellees filed a brief on the merits requesting that this Court affirm the trial court's judgment. Because the appellees filed a brief on the merits, this Court accepts the appellees' brief as correctly presenting the case and we affirm the judgment upon that brief without examining the record. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(3); Harkins v. Dever Nursing Home, 999 S.W.2d 571, 573 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1999, no pet.) (affirming trial court's respective summary judgments based on appellees' briefs alone without examining record, under Rule 38.8(a)(3), because appellants' amended brief had not substantially complied with rules).
Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's final judgment upon the appellees' brief. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(3), 43.2(a). We dismiss all pending motions as moot.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Keyes, Higley, and Landau.