Opinion
No. 05-19-00893-CV
05-21-2020
FELIPE DELEON, JR., Appellant v. ROSA BENITEZ, Appellee
On Appeal from the 292nd Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. CV97-00151-S
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Schenck, Molberg, and Nowell
Opinion by Justice Schenck
By notice of appeal filed July 26, 2019, appellant challenges the trial court's July 8, 2019 order dismissing for want of jurisdiction his motion for new trial. The motion for new trial appeared to complain of a 1997 protective order and 1999 order modifying, on the trial court's own motion, the protective order.
Because an appeal is generally taken from a final judgment, not the refusal to reconsider the judgment, and must be filed within thirty days of the date the judgment is signed, we questioned our jurisdiction over the appeal filed twenty years after the protective order and order modifying the protective order were signed. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1; In re B.L.R., 592 S.W.3d 453, 462-63 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2018, no pet.) (order denying motion for new trial not independently appealable); Brashear v. Victoria Gardens of McKinney, L.L.C., 302 S.W.3d 542, 545 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2009, no pet.) (op. on reh'g) (timely filing of notice of appeal is jurisdictional). At our direction, the parties filed letter briefs addressing our concern. In his letter brief, appellant asserts we have jurisdiction in the "interest of justice[.]" In response, appellee argues no basis exists to allow an untimely review of an order "in the interest of justice." We agree. The time for perfecting an appeal in a civil case may not be altered for any reason. See TEX. R. APP. P. 2. Accordingly, because the notice of appeal was filed twenty years after the protective order and order modifying the protective order were signed, we lack jurisdiction and dismiss the appeal along with any pending motions. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a).
/David J. Schenck/
DAVID J. SCHENCK
JUSTICE 190893F.P05
JUDGMENT
On Appeal from the 292nd Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. CV97-00151-S.
Opinion delivered by Justice Schenck, Justices Molberg and Nowell participating.
In accordance with this Court's opinion of this date, we DISMISS the appeal. Judgment entered this 21st day of May, 2020.