Opinion
No. 10-05-00441-CV
Opinion delivered and filed January 25, 2006.
Appeal from the 18th District Court, Johnson County, Texas, Trial Court No. D200105555.
Writ dismissed.
Before Cheif Justice GRAY, Justice VANCE, and, Justice REYNA.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Loretta Meserve filed a Writ of Certiorari with this Court. We dismiss this proceeding for want of jurisdiction.
Meserve's parental rights to her two children were terminated in October of 2002. We previously issued an opinion in each of two separate appeals from the underlying termination proceeding, the first on March 26, 2003 (10-03-00063-CV) and the second on August 20, 2003 (10-03-00206-CV). We dismissed the appeals because the notices of appeal were untimely. A motion for rehearing in the second appeal filed on August 22, 2003 was overruled on October 15, 2003. A second motion for rehearing filed on January 23, 2004 was dismissed by an "Order of Dismissal" on February 25, 2004. The February 25, 2004 order noted that our plenary power expired November 14, 2003.
In a letter to the parties, to the extent we could identify them, we questioned our jurisdiction to grant any relief in this proceeding. Although Meserve filed a response to our letter, she did not explain how we have jurisdiction of this proceeding or how we could grant her any relief. In reviewing the rules of appellate procedure that Meserve cites, it appears she believes that the trial court made a remediable error in the termination proceeding and that this Court must then direct the trial court to correct that error and proceed with the appeal as though no erroneous action had occurred. See TEX. R. APP. P. 44.3 and 44.4. But, as we explained in the dispositions of her two appeals, Meserve's notices of appeal were untimely. In the Interest of C.M.M.D., 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 7264 (Tex.App.-Waco Aug. 20, 2003, pet. dism'd); In re C.M.M.D., 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 2702 (Tex.App.-Waco March 26, 2003, no pet.). We had no jurisdiction to review anything the trial court did or did not do at the termination proceeding.
Meserve's appeals are final and we cannot now act on the termination proceeding. Our plenary power to act in the first appeal expired in May of 2003, 60 days after our judgment, because no motion for rehearing was filed. TEX. R. APP. P. 19.1(a). Our plenary power over the second appeal expired on November 14, 2003, 30 days after we overruled Meserve's motion for rehearing. Tex.R.App.P. 19.1(b). Thus, we have no jurisdiction of this new proceeding asking for further review.
Accordingly, we dismiss this writ for want of jurisdiction.