Opinion
No. 05-20-00449-CV
01-29-2021
FRANCIE RACHAL, Appellant v. DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE, IN TRUST FOR THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF MORGAN STANLEY ABS CAPITAL I INC. TRUST 2006-HE8, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-HE8, Appellee
On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 2 Collin County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 002-00452-2020
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Chief Justice Burns, Justice Molberg, and Justice Smith
Opinion by Chief Justice Burns
Appellant's brief in this appeal has not been filed despite appellant being granted, primarily as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on her, more than an additional 200 days to file the brief. Although we cautioned appellant in our last order directing the brief be filed that further extension motions would not be entertained and failure to file the brief by January 22, 2021 would result in dismissal of the appeal without further notice, see TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(1), 42.3(b),(c), appellant has filed yet another extension motion. She seeks a two-week extension to February 5th.
In the motion, appellant asserts she has prepared an "initial" brief but needs more time "to review and revise" it to ensure its accuracy. She explains she did not receive a copy of the record until December 28, 2020 and is pro se, which along with the pandemic, has hindered her ability to file the brief.
Appellant asserts she has provided a redacted copy of the "initial" brief in a "good faith effort . . . to show" she has "in fact taken seriously" the order to submit the brief by January 22nd, but the extension motion filed in the Court does not include any attachments.
We note the clerk's record was filed April 28, 2020 and the reporter's record was filed a month later, on May 29, 2020. We further note that appellant only requested a copy of the record on December 16, 2020, although she acknowledged the filing dates of the records in each of the five extension motions she has filed, the first one which was filed July 2, 2020. Although we are sympathetic to the disruptions and delays caused by the pandemic and mindful that most parties representing themselves are not trained in law, we do not treat pro se litigants differently than parties who are represented by counsel and nothing before us persuades us that the more than 200 additional days granted appellant to file the brief have been insufficient even under the conditions generated by the pandemic. See Carrigan v. Edwards, No. 13-20-00093-CV, 2020 WL 6504418 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi-Edinburgh Nov. 5, 2020, no pet.) (mem. op.) (dismissing appeal where appellant failed to file brief after seventy-nine-day extension due to pandemic and noting "the pandemic conditions do not generate a blanket excuse which can be used to extend deadlines indefinitely"); Rogers v. Rogers, No. 11-19-00213-CV, 2020 WL 4725628 (Tex. App.—Eastland Aug. 13, 2020, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op.) (denying eighth extension motion after abating appeal for approximately sixty days due to pandemic); Bolling v. Farmers Branch Indep. Sch. Dist., 315 S.W.3d 893, 895 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2010, no pet.) (noting courts generally caution pro se litigants they will not be treated differently than parties represented by licensed attorneys). Accordingly, we deny the extension motion and dismiss the appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(1), 42.3(b),(c).
/Robert D. Burns, III/
ROBERT D. BURNS, III
CHIEF JUSTICE 200449F.P05
JUDGMENT
On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 2, Collin County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 002-00452-2020.
Opinion delivered by Chief Justice Burns, Justices Molberg and Smith participating.
In accordance with this Court's opinion of this date, we DISMISS the appeal.
We ORDER that appellee Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, as Trustee, in Trust for the Registered Holders of Morgan Stanley ABS Capital I Inc. Trust 2006-HE8, Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2006-HE8 recover its costs, if any, of this appeal from appellant Francie Rachal. Judgment entered January 29, 2021.