Opinion
13-23-00477-CV
07-03-2024
ANDY FLORES, Appellant, v. ANGEL GARCIA, Appellee.
ON APPEAL FROM THE 476TH DISTRICT COURT OF HIDALGO COUNTY, TEXAS
Before Benavides, Longoria, and Silva Justices.
ORDER OF ABATEMENT
PER CURIAM.
Appellant Andy Flores seeks to appeal the trial court's orders of nonsuit and default judgment in favor of appellee Angel Garcia. We abate the proceeding and remand it to the trial court for clarification of its default judgment order.
Unless specifically authorized by statute, appeals may be taken only from final judgments. In re Guardianship of Jones, 629 S.W.3d 921, 924 (Tex. 2021) (per curiam). Having reviewed the order, record made available on appeal, and arguments of the parties, we now request that the trial court confirm that its order was intended to dispose of all of the parties' claims so as to ensure judgment finality for purposes of establishing our jurisdiction. See Bella Palma, LLC v. Young, 601 S.W.3d 799, 801 (Tex. 2020) (per curiam) ("If the appellate court is uncertain about the intent of the order, it can abate the appeal to permit clarification by the trial court." (quoting Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 206 (Tex. 2001))); see also Chrissos v. PlainsCapital Bank, No. 13-21-00271-CV, 2022 WL 17492276, at *3 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi-Edinburg Dec. 8, 2022, no pet.) (mem. op.) (abating proceedings sua sponte for clarification of trial court's order to ensure appellate jurisdiction); Garcia v. Gonzalez, No. 13-20-00221-CV, 2021 WL 5365105, at *1 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi-Edinburg Nov. 18, 2021, no pet.) (mem. op.) (same).
Accordingly, this Court, on its own motion, issues the following order. We abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court. On remand, the trial court is ordered to, within thirty days of this order, inform this Court by written explanation about whether it intended for the default judgment to completely dispose of all claims against each of the parties. See, e.g., Bella Palma, LLC, 601 S.W.3d at 802 ("Here, the Clarifying Order left no doubt about finality, so the court of appeals erred in turning to the record to resolve the issue. Instead, the appellate court was obligated to take the Clarification Order at face value, as a clear indication that the trial court intended the order to completely dispose of the entire case.") (cleaned up). Any record of proceedings shall be included in a supplemental reporter's record. The supplemental clerk's record and supplemental reporter's record, if any, shall be filed with the Clerk of this Court on or before the expiration of thirty days from the date of this order. If the trial court requires additional time to comply, the trial court should so notify the Clerk of this Court. The appeal will be reinstated upon receipt of the foregoing materials and upon further order of this Court.