Opinion
08-24-00305-CV
08-30-2024
IN THE INTEREST OF: A.A.L., G.B.L., and A.D.L., CHILDREN, Appellants
Appeal from the 65th District Court of El Paso County, Texas (TC# 2022DCM4829)
Before Alley, C.J., Palafox and Soto, JJ.
ORDER
Pursuant to Tex.R.App.P. 10.4(a), this Order may have been issued by a single Justice sitting on the panel.
Pending before the Court is Appellants' second joint motion to abate requesting an abatement of 20 or 30 days on the grounds that a motion for new trial is pending, counsel need additional time to review the record, and the case is ripe for mediation.
Paragraph 2 of the motion requests 20 days and the prayer requests 30 days.
An abatement is not necessary for any of these reasons. First, as noted in this Court's August 22, 2024 order, a trial court has jurisdiction over a motion for new trial even though an appeal is pending. See Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 329b(e); Wells Fargo Bank, Nat. Ass'n v. Erickson, 267 S.W.3d 139, 147 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi-Edinburg 2008, no pet.) ("[E]ven if a notice of appeal has been filed, a trial court still has jurisdiction to grant a motion for new trial"). Second, counsel may seek additional time to prepare their briefs under the Court's limited policy allowing such an extension. Third, mediation may occur without an abatement of the appeal and without an order compelling the parties to mediate.
The Court again reminds the parties that this termination-of-parental-rights appeal is accelerated and involves additional expedited procedures, see Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 109.002(a-1); Tex.R.App.P. 28.4; Tex. R. Jud. Admin. 6.2(a), and that an abatement does not stop the 180-day clock from running. In re M.H., No. 08-15-00091-CV, 2015 WL 3646655, at *1 (Tex. App.- El Paso June 12, 2015, no pet.) ("Appellate courts are required to dispose of an appeal from a judgment terminating parental rights within 180 days after the notice of appeal is filed. See Tex. R. Jud. Admin. 6.2(a). The entry of an abatement order does not toll that deadline.").
Accordingly, we DENY the motion in part, and do not abate the appeal. However, construing the motion as a motion to extend time to file Appellants' briefs, we GRANT the motion in part, extending the deadline for Appellants' briefs until September 17, 2024, which is 14 days after the hearing on the motion for new trial set for September 3, 2024, and 20 days after the current deadline of August 28, 2024. Further, Appellants shall promptly report to this Court the results of the trial court's hearing on the motion for new trial and any mediation undertaken.
IT IS SO ORDERED.