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In re Renz

Court of Appeals of Texas, Eighth District, El Paso
Sep 3, 2021
No. 08-21-00042-CV (Tex. App. Sep. 3, 2021)

Opinion

08-21-00042-CV

09-03-2021

IN RE ESTATE OF OLIVER LEE RENZ, DECEASED, Appellant.


Appeal from the County Court at Law of Reeves County, Texas (TC# 3080P)

Before Rodriguez, C.J., Palafox and Alley, JJ.

ORDER

PER CURIAM

Dianne O. Florez, the County Clerk of Reeves County, has filed a notice of late record and requested an extension of time between 30 and 90 days to complete the clerk's record in this appeal. This is the fourth request for an extension of time to file the clerk's record received by this Court. These four requests follow the Court's initial sua sponte grant of a 30-day extension of time to the Reeves County Clerk, meaning that if this particular request is granted, the Court would be providing a fifth extension of time in which to file the clerk's record.

Based on our review of the case record, the Court finds the following:

• The notice of appeal was filed in this case on March 12, 2021. On March 12, 2021, the County Clerk of Reeves County, the Honorable Dianne O. Florez, was notified the clerk's record was due on April 11, 2021.
• No clerk's record was filed nor was any correspondence received from the Reeves County Clerk by April 11, 2021.
• On the Court's own motion, on April 16, 2021, the Honorable Dianne O. Florez was granted a one-month extension in which to file the clerk's record, which was now due on May 11, 2021.
• On May 28, 2021, the Court notified the Honorable Dianne O. Florez that the clerk's record had not been timely filed, nor had an extension request or a letter regarding arrangements been filed. The Court gave notice of its intent to dismiss the appeal within 10 days unless a party could show grounds for continuing the appeal. The Reeves County Clerk was directed to notify the Court immediately if arrangements had been made by the parties for the clerk's record.
• On June 2, 2021, the Court received notification from the Reeves County Clerk's Chief Deputy, Diana Rodriguez, that arrangements were being made regarding the clerk's record. Further, a request was made for additional time given the length of the record. Her basis of the request was that documents dating from December 30, 2009, through July 5, 2011, needed to be scanned. The request for additional time was for "30-60 days."
• On June 3, 2021, the Court granted the Reeves County Clerk a second 30-day extension of time to file the record, making the clerk's record due by July 3, 2021.
• On July 9, 2021, the Reeves County Clerk's Chief Deputy, Diana Rodriguez, filed a Notification of Late Record, stating she mistakenly understood the filing deadline to be July 30, 2021. Further, documents in the cause number 3080P from 2009 through 2011 had not been scanned; she had an election conference to attend August 1-5, 2021; and she requested another one-month extension.
• On July 9, 2021, the Court granted the Reeves County Clerk a third 30-day extension of time to file the record, and the new due date for the clerk's record was set for August 2, 2021.
• On July 30, 2021, the Reeves County Clerk's Chief Deputy, Diana Rodriguez, filed a Notification of a Late Record, stating she is unable to file the clerk's record and requested another one-month extension. Her basis for the extension was while she had scanned the documents, she still needed to review the file for duplicate documents, number each page, and place them in a PDF format. She averred the record would be completed in 30 days due to the election conference she was attending in Austin from August 1-5, 2021.
• On August 2, 2021, the Court granted the Reeves County Clerk a fourth 30-day extension of time to file the record, and the clerk's record was now due September 1, 2021. Further, the Reeves County Clerk was instructed "NO FURTHER REQUESTS FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE THE CLERK'S RECORD WILL BE CONSIDERED BY THIS COURT."
• On September 1, 2021, the Court received a Notification of Late Record from the Reeves County Clerk's Chief Deputy, Diana Rodriguez. She advised she did not have enough staff in the office, was shouldering extra responsibility, and the file contained over two thousand documents. She anticipated the record would be filed in another 30 to 90 days.

The Court is mindful of the capacity of clerks to produce voluminous records in an electronic format suitable for filing with the appellate courts. However, this appeal was filed March 12th, and the Reeves Court Clerk has been granted extensions from April 11, 2021, through September 1, 2021, almost five months after the initial deadline set by the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Our last order informed the Reeves County Clerk that no further extensions will be considered. Each Notification of Late Record filed by the Reeves County Clerk's office beginning on July 9, 2021, committed to filing the clerk's record within 30-60 days. Relying on her statements, we granted extension after extension.

We now turn to the latest filed extension on September 1, 2021. The parties and justice demand resolution of the case in a timely manner. THE COURT WILL GRANT ONE FINAL EXTENSION OF TWELVE DAYS. We reiterate NO FURTHER EXTENSIONS will be entertained. The clerk's record is now due on September 15, 2021. Failure to timely file the clerk's record by this deadline may result in further action by this Court as deemed necessary to ensure the filing of the clerk's record in this matter.

IT IS SO ORDERED.


Summaries of

In re Renz

Court of Appeals of Texas, Eighth District, El Paso
Sep 3, 2021
No. 08-21-00042-CV (Tex. App. Sep. 3, 2021)
Case details for

In re Renz

Case Details

Full title:IN RE ESTATE OF OLIVER LEE RENZ, DECEASED, Appellant.

Court:Court of Appeals of Texas, Eighth District, El Paso

Date published: Sep 3, 2021

Citations

No. 08-21-00042-CV (Tex. App. Sep. 3, 2021)