Opinion
14-22-00893-CV
06-15-2023
MAGGY HORGAN, Appellant / Cross-Appellee v. JOHN HORGAN, Appellee / Cross-Appellant
On Appeal from the 328th District Court Fort Bend County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 19-DCV-258949
Panel Consists of Justices Jewell, Bourliot, and Zimmerer.
ORDER
PER CURIAM
Before the court is appellant's motion Before the court is appellant's Motion Challenging Ruling on Statement of Inability to Pay Costs. Appellee has filed a response at the court's request, and appellant has filed a reply.
Appellant filed a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs in the trial court on December 7, 2022. The trial court held a hearing on February 10, 2023. At the hearing's conclusion, the trial court took the statement of inability to pay costs under advisement. We have not located a written order on the statement in the clerk's record. Thus, the reporter's record contains no oral ruling, and the clerk's record contains no written order. The parties appear to agree however that, on February 15, 2023, the trial court made a docket sheet entry denying appellant's request to proceed without costs, though the docket sheet in our clerk's record contains no entries after January 2023.
Appellant's motion attaches an email that quotes the text of the docket sheet entry. No party disputes the email's contents.
We have authority to review by motion an order issued by the trial court under rule 145. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 145(g)(1). We deny appellant's motion without prejudice to re-filing because there is no trial court order to review. Even if the certified copy of the trial court docket sheet currently contained in our clerk's record included the docket entry both parties have quoted, a docket sheet entry is generally insufficient to constitute a judgment or order of the court. See McAndrews v. Lowe, No. 01-16-00836-CV, 2017 WL 2117532, at *2 (Tex. App.- Houston [1st Dist.] May 16, 2017, no pet.); In re Bill Heard Chevrolet, Ltd., 209 S.W.3d 311, 315 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, orig. proceeding). A trial court's "docket-sheet entry ordinarily forms no part of the record that may be considered; rather, it is a memorandum made for the trial court and clerk's convenience." McAndrews, 2017 WL 2117532, at *2. In McAndrews, the court held that it could not review a docket sheet entry purporting to sustain a court reporter's contest to an affidavit of inability to pay court costs because the docket entry was not a court order. See id.
Appellant's Motion Challenging Ruling on Statement of Inability to Pay Costs is denied without prejudice.