Opinion
NO. 01-13-00674-CV
04-01-2014
ROBERT S. "BOB" BENNETT, APPELLANT v. BROOCKS BAKER & LANGE, L.L.P., Appellee
On Appeal from the 152nd District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 2000-20780
ORDER
This is a statutory interlocutory appeal from an order signed on July 2, 2013. An interlocutory appeal is an accelerated appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 28.1(a). "[I]n an accelerated appeal, absent a [motion to extend time], the deadline for filing a notice of appeal is strictly set at twenty days after the judgment is signed, with no exceptions. . . ." In re K.A.F., 160 S.W.3d 923, 927 (Tex. 2005); see TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1(b), 26.3.
Bennett's notice of appeal was due by July 21, 2013, yet he did not file it until August 1, 2013, making it untimely. See K.A.F., 160 S.W.3d at 927. Bennett did not file a motion to extend time to file his notice of appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3. Although we construe a notice of appeal filed beyond the time allowed by rule 26.1(a)(1), but within the 15-day period allowed under TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3, to imply a motion for an extension of time, it is still necessary for an appellant to offer a reasonable explanation for his failure to timely file a notice of appeal. Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). A reasonable explanation is "any plausible statement of circumstances indicating that failure to file within the specified period was not deliberate or intentional, but was the result of inadvertence, mistake, or mischance." Hone v. Hanafin, 104 S.W.3d 884, 886 (Tex. 2003) (internal quotation omitted).
Unless within 15 days of the date of this order, appellant files an explanation reasonably explaining his failure to timely file his notice of appeal, we will dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Coronado, 994 S.W.2d at 902; TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a). This appeal is removed from the submission docket and, if dismissal is unwarranted, will be reset for submission at a later date. It is so ordered.
Jane Bland
Acting individually