Opinion
08-22-00236-CV
12-08-2022
NOEL LIFE, Appellant, v. EAST EL PASO VETERINARY HOSPITAL, Appellee.
Appeal from the 120th Judicial District Court of El Paso County, Texas (TC# 2021DCV4356)
Before Rodriguez, C.J., Palafox, and Alley, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
GINA M. PALAFOX, JUSTICE
This attempted appeal is before the Court on its own motion to determine whether it should be dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Tex.R.App.P. 42.3(a). Finding Appellant failed to timely file notice of appeal or provide any explanation for a needed extension, we dismiss the attempted appeal for want of jurisdiction.
A motion for extension of time is necessarily implied when an appellant, acting in good faith, files a notice of appeal beyond the time allowed by Rule 26.1 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, but within the fifteen-day period in which the appellant would be entitled to move to extend the filing deadline under Rule 26.3. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1, 26.3; Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). However, an appellant must still provide the Court with a reasonable explanation for the late filing of the notice of appeal before the Court may accept the appeal.
Here, Appellant attempts to appeal from an order granting defendant's no-evidence motion for summary judgment, which order was signed on October 19, 2022. No motion for new trial was filed. On November 23, 2022, Appellant filed his notice of appeal, making the notice untimely but still within the fifteen-day grace period for requesting an extension of time. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1; 26.3. That same day, we sent a letter to Appellant notifying him that although his notice of appeal was untimely, an extension motion for filing the notice was necessarily implied; however, the attempted appeal would be subject to dismissal if he failed to respond with a reasonable explanation for the untimely filing by December 3, 2022.
As of this date, this Court has received no response from Appellant. Thus, in the absence of a timely filed notice of appeal or extension request, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3; 42.3(a); see also Jones v. City of Houston, 976 S.W.2d 676, 677 (Tex. 1998); Verburgt, 959 S.W.2d at 617.