Opinion
No. 12-02-00348-CV.
Opinion delivered February 5, 2003.
Appeal from the 392nd Judicial District Court of Henderson County, Texas.
Panel consisted of WORTHEN, C.J. and GRIFFITH, J.
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON REHEARING
By opinion dated December 18, 2002, we dismissed this appeal because the notice of appeal was untimely. In the Interest of C.L.C. and C.R.D. , No. 12-02-00348-CV (Tex.App.-Tyler December 18, 2002, no pet.) (not designated for publication), 2002 WL 31835080. On December 30, Appellant filed a motion for rehearing and furnished an order signed by the trial court on December 18. The order includes a finding that the earliest date upon which either Appellant or Appellant's attorney received notice or actual knowledge of the judgment signed by the trial court was November 27, 2002.
The trial court signed its judgment on November 4, 2002, and the appeal is accelerated. Therefore, the notice of appeal was due on November 25, 2002. Tex.R.App.P. 26.1(b) (notice of appeal in accelerated appeal must be filed within twenty days after judgment is signed). However,
if a party affected by a judgment does not receive, within twenty days from the date the judgment is signed, the notice required by Rule 306a(3) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure or actual knowledge that a judgment has been signed, any period that, under the rules of appellate procedure, runs from the signing of the judgment will begin on the earlier of the date when the party receives notice or acquires actual knowledge of the signed judgment.
Tex.R.App.P. 4.2(a)(1).
The trial court found that Appellant or Appellant's attorney first either received notice or acquired actual knowledge of the signed judgment on November 27, 2002. Consequently, Appellant's time for filing a notice of appeal runs from that date. Tex.R.App.P. 4.2(a)(1). Because Appellant's notice of appeal was filed on November 27, 2002, it is therefore timely. Accordingly, Appellant's motion for rehearing is granted , and the appeal is reinstated .
ORDER
Dear Counsel:
You are hereby notified that in the above-referenced cause, the following decision and order was this day made and entered by this Court:
THIS DAY came on to be submitted to the Court Appellant's Motion for Rehearing; and the Court having heard and fully considered said motion hereby ORDERS that the opinion and judgment of this Court dated December 18, 2002, are WITHDRAWN, and the appeal is REINSTATED. All time periods shall run from the date of this order and the opinion of this Court.
A copy of the opinion of this Court is enclosed to all parties.
Respectfully yours,
CATHY SUE LUSK, Clerk