Opinion
NUMBER 13-20-00410-CV
12-04-2020
IN THE INTEREST OF C.N.L., P.A.L., D.J.L., D.D.L., B.M.L., J.J.L., AND J.J.L., CHILDREN
On appeal from the County Court at Law No. 1 of Calhoun County, Texas.
ORDER
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Hinojosa and Perkes
Order Per Curiam
This is an appeal of a final order terminating parental rights. The notice of appeal was filed on September 28, 2020, and appellants' brief was due November 2, 2020. We previously granted appellants' motion to extend the deadline until November 23, 2020. Appellants have now filed a second motion for extension of time, seeking an additional 36 days to file the brief, until January 8, 2021. Counsel represents that this extension is necessary because she is working on several other cases and is preparing for her daughter's wedding on December 12, 2020. Counsel has certified that appellee, the Department of Family and Protective Services, is opposed to the requested extension but is unopposed to a twenty-day extension.
Appeals in parental termination and child protection cases are governed by the rules of appellate procedure for accelerated appeals, but include additional expedited deadlines and procedures. See TEX. R. APP. P. 28.4; TEX. R. JUD. ADMIN. 6.2(a). The intermediate appellate courts are directed to ensure "as far as reasonably possible" that appeals in such cases are brought to final disposition within 180 days of the date the notice of appeal is filed. See TEX. R. JUD. ADMIN. 6.2(a). Accordingly, it is the policy of this Court to limit extensions of time in such cases absent truly extraordinary circumstances. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.6(d). The Court looks with disfavor upon the delay caused by counsel's failure to have filed a brief in this matter.
Appellants, and the children involved in this case, are entitled to a timely and expeditious review of the trial court's ruling in accordance with the timelines set forth above. We have already granted a 21-day extension to file the brief, and we find that an additional extension of 36 days would seriously jeopardize this Court's ability to comply with those timelines. Accordingly, we hereby GRANT IN PART AND DENY IN PART appellants' second motion for extension of time and ORDER appellants' brief to be filed on or before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 18, 2020. No further motions for extension of time by appellants will be entertained.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
PER CURIAM Delivered and filed the 4th day of December, 2020.