TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN
NO. 03-14-00485-CV
John Reed, Jr., Appellant
v.
Farmers Insurance Group, Appellee
FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF BELL COUNTY, 169TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
NO. 259,941-C, HONORABLE GORDON G. ADAMS, JUDGE PRESIDING
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant has been the beneficiary of four previous extensions of time to file his
opening brief, which was originally due in December 2014. The most recent extended deadline was
March 11, 2015. After this deadline passed without a brief being filed, our Clerk sent notice to
appellant—on April 29, 2015—warning that his brief was overdue and that the appeal could be
dismissed for want of prosecution if appellant did not respond with a reasonable explanation for the
failure by May 11, 2015. We have received no response from appellant other than a fifth motion for
extension of time that was filed on April 29, 2015 (the same day we sent our last notice) requesting
an extension until one week after this Court received a supplemental clerk’s record. While we
received that supplemental record on May 7—now almost three months ago—we still have yet to
receive appellant’s brief.
If an appellant fails to file a brief, this Court is empowered to dismiss the appeal
for want of prosecution unless the appellant reasonably explains the failure and appellee is not
significantly injured by that failure.1 To date, appellant has provided no explanation of his ongoing
failure to file a brief, let alone filed one. We dismiss the appeal for want of prosecution.2
__________________________________________
Bob Pemberton, Justice
Before Chief Justice Rose, Justices Pemberton and Field
Dismissed for Want of Prosecution
Filed: August 5, 2015
1
See Tex. R. App. P. 38.8(a)(1).
2
See id. R. 42.3(b).
2