Opinion
02-24-00375-CV
11-07-2024
Johnathan Cooper, Appellant v. James Warren St. John, Appellee
On Appeal from the 67th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 067-330985-21
Before Sudderth, C.J.; Wallach and Walker, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Mike Wallach Justice
Appellant Johnathan Cooper filed a "blind notice of appeal" asserting that neither the trial court "nor the defendant [are] providing [him] with any rulings had" in this case and that he "[did] not know if [a] jury trial was done [on] July 15, 2024," "[d]oes not know if any pretrial motions were ruled on," and "[d]oes not even know if [this] case is still pending, despite [his] request."
On September 4, 2024, we notified Cooper of our concern that we lacked jurisdiction over his appeal because we had been informed by the trial court clerk that the trial judge had not signed an order in this case, and it therefore appeared that there was no final judgment or appealable order. We gave the parties twenty days to furnish this court with a signed copy of the order from which Cooper sought to appeal. We cautioned Cooper that we would dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction if we were not furnished with a signed order. We have not received any order.
As we recently explained to Cooper, Rule 27.1 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure permits a prematurely filed notice of appeal to become "effective and deemed filed on the day of, but after, the event that begins the period for perfecting the appeal," Tex.R.App.P. 27.1(a), but the rule "does not serve to require an appellate court to 'docket and hold an appeal open until there is an appealable judgment or order at some future date.'" Cooper v. St. John, No. 02-24-00187-CV, 2024 WL 2971706, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth June 13, 2024, no pet.) (mem. op.) (quoting Ganeson v. Reeves, 236 S.W.3d 816, 817 (Tex. App.—Waco 2007, pet. denied). Without a final judgment or appealable order, we have no jurisdiction over Cooper's appeal. See id.
Accordingly, because Cooper has not appealed from a final judgment or appealable order, we dismiss his appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex.R.App.P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).