Opinion
NO. 01-14-00896-CV
08-25-2016
THEAOLA ROBINSON AND BENJI'S SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL ACADEMY, INC., Appellants v. CHRISTOPHER L. TRITICO, RON S. RAINEY, AND MICHAEL ESSMYER, JR. D/B/A ESSMYER, TRITICO & RAINEY L.L.P., Appellees
On Appeal from the 125th District Court Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Case No. 2013-26582
MEMORANDUM OPINION
On March 12, 2015, the Court issued an opinion dismissing this appeal by appellants, Theola Robinson and Benji's Special Educational Academy, for nonpayment of required fees. See TEX. R. APP. P. 5, 20.1. Prior to the issuance of our opinion, neither appellants nor the trial court clerk provided us with an affidavit of indigence filed by appellants, nor did the record contain any indication that an affidavit of indigence had been filed. Appellants further failed to respond to the court's notices that the appeal was subject to dismissal unless appellants paid the required fees or established indigence. On April 13, 2015, after the appeal was dismissed, appellants filed a "Motion to Vacate Judgment or Set Aside Judgment and Verified Motion to Reinstate Appeal" averring that appellants filed an affidavit of indigence with the trial court in January 2015. Construing appellants' motion as a motion for rehearing, we withdrew our opinion dismissing the appeal and reinstated the case on the Court's active docket. A clerk's record was ordered to be filed containing, among other things, the affidavit of indigence as well as any pleadings regarding any contest to the affidavit.
The clerk's record that was subsequently filed with this Court contains a judgment and order of the trial court sustaining the contest to appellants' affidavit of indigence. Appellants have not filed a motion with this Court seeking review of the trial court's order sustaining the contest. See TEX. R. APP. P. 20.1(j). Appellants thus have failed to establish indigence for purposes of appellate costs and have not paid the required fees. See TEX. R. APP. P. 5, 20.1; see also TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. §§ 51.207, 51.941(a) (West 2013), 101.041 (West Supp. 2015); Fees Charged in the Supreme Court, in Civil Cases in the Courts of Appeals, and Before the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation, Misc. Docket No. 15-9158 (Tex. Aug. 28, 2015).
Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for nonpayment of all required fees. See TEX. R. APP. P 5, 42.3(c).We dismiss any pending motions as moot.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Keyes, Bland, and Massengale.