Opinion
05-23-00168-CV
04-16-2024
ALFRED COOPER, Appellant v. SHERRY LEE HERNDON SMITH AND ALPHONSO SMITH, Appellees
On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 1 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. CC-20-00276-A
Before Chief Justice Burns, Justice Pedersen, III, and Justice Goldstein
MEMORANDUM OPINION
ROBERT D. BURNS, III CHIEF JUSTICE
Appellant appeals from the trial court's October 28, 2022 order of dismissal for want of prosecution. The trial court previously dismissed the case for want of prosecution by order signed on December 7, 2020. Appellant filed a timely motion to reinstate that was overruled by operation of law on February 22, 2021. See Tex. Rs. Civ. P. 4, 165a(3). Although the trial court's plenary power to reinstate the case expired thirty days later on March 24, 2021, the trial court signed an order granting the motion on April 6, 2021. Id. 165a(3). In light of these circumstances. we questioned our jurisdiction over this appeal because it appeared that the trial court's April 6, 2021 order granting appellant's motion to reinstate and the subsequent dismissal order that is the subject of this appeal appear are void because they were rendered after the trial court lost plenary power. See State ex. rel Latty v. Owens, 907 S.W.2d 484, 486 (Tex. 1995) (per curiam) (action taken by trial court after plenary power expires is void). When an appeal is taken from a void order, an appellate court cannot reach the merits of the appeal but can only vacate the void order and dismiss the appeal. See id. As directed, appellant filed a letter brief addressing the jurisdictional issue.
In his letter brief, appellant stated that the trial court conducted a hearing on the motion to reinstate on March 8, 2021 and timely granted the motion in open court. Appellant filed a motion for judgment nunc pro tunc with the trial court on April 17, 2023 to correct the "clerical error of the mistaken date." The trial court denied appellant's motion for judgment nunc pro tunc. In the order, the trial court explains that, at the conclusion of the March 8th hearing, it took the matter under advisement. The trial court confirmed that the order was, in fact, signed on April 6, 2021. The reporter's record of the March 8th hearing confirms the trial court's statements.
The April 6, 2021 order and the October 28, 2022 dismissal order are void because they were signed after the trial court lost plenary power. See Owens, 907 S.W.2d at 486. Accordingly, we vacate the trial court's April 6, 2021 and October 28, 2022 orders and dismiss the appeal. See id.
JUDGMENT
In accordance with this Court's opinion of this date, the trial court's April 6, 2021 and October 28, 2022 orders are VACATED and the appeal is DISMISSED.
It is ORDERED that appellees SHERRY LEE HERNDON SMITH AND ALPHONSO SMITH recover their costs of this appeal from appellant ALFRED COOPER.
Judgment entered April 16, 2024