Opinion
NO. 14-20-00713-CV
11-05-2020
HENRY TOWNSEND AND GOLDIE SMITH, Appellants v. ATLAS 13 NORTHWEST MEDICAL, LP, Appellee
On Appeal from the 61st District Court Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 2016-35237
ORDER
This is an appeal from a judgment signed September 1, 2020. The notice of appeal was due October 1, 2020. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1. Appellants, however, filed the notice of appeal on October 2, 2020, a date within 15 days of the due date for the notice of appeal. A motion to extend time is necessarily implied when the perfecting instrument is filed within 15 days of its due date. Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). Appellants did not file a motion to extend time to file the notice of appeal. While an extension may be implied, appellants are still obligated to come forward with a reasonable explanation to support the late filing. See Miller v. Greenpark Surgery Ctr. Assocs., Ltd., 974 S.W.2d 805, 808 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, no pet.).
Accordingly, we ORDER appellants to file a proper motion to extend time to file the notice of appeal on or before November 16, 2020. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3;10.5(b). If appellants do not comply with this order, we will dismiss the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Christopher, Wise, and Hassan.