Opinion
05-22-00509-CV
07-01-2022
IN THE INTEREST OF K.C.F. AND M.C.F., CHILDREN
On Appeal from the 303rd Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. DF-17-12943-V
ORDER
LESLIE OSBORNE, JUSTICE
We questioned our jurisdiction over this appeal as it appeared to have been prematurely filed. The notice of appeal was filed May 25, 2022, but while the trial court appeared to have orally rendered judgment on April 26, 2022, no written judgment had been signed as of June 2, 2022. Accordingly, we directed appellant to file a letter brief by June 24, 2022 showing cause why the appeal should not be dismissed. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1 (deadline for filing notice of appeal runs from date judgment is signed); Farmer v. Ben E. Keith Co., 907 S.W.2d 495, 496 (Tex. 1995) (per curiam) (same).
Rather than filing the requested letter brief, appellant filed a new notice of appeal asserting a final judgment had been signed on June 3, 2022. That appeal is docketed as appellate cause number 05-22-00625-CV.
Because a final judgment has now been signed, it appears we have jurisdiction over this appeal and appellate cause number 05-22-00625-CV, as duplicative of this appeal, is CONSOLIDATED into this appeal. We DIRECT the Clerk of the Court to transfer all documents from appellate cause number 05-22-00625-CV into this appeal. For administrative purposes, appellate cause number 05-22-00625-CV is treated as a closed case.
The clerk's record that has been filed in this appeal needs to be supplemented with a copy of the judgment. Accordingly, we ORDER Dallas County District Clerk to file, no later than July 8, 2022, a supplemental clerk's record containing a copy of the June 3, 2022 final judgment. The supplemental record shall also contain any additional documents requested by the parties not already included in the clerk's record.
Having suspended the deadline for filing the reporter's record pending determination of our jurisdiction, we ORDER Donna Kindle, Official Court Reporter for the 303rd Judicial District Court, to file the record no later than July 11, 2022. We DENY as moot Ms. Kindle's June 4, 2022 request for an extension of time to file the record.
We DIRECT the Clerk of the Court to send a copy of this order to Ms. Pitre, Ms. Kindle, and the parties.