11th Court of Appeals
Eastland, Texas
Opinion
ME Okere
Appellant
Vs. No. 11-01-00016-CV B Appeal from Dallas County
Jeffrey Blatt
Appellee
This is an appeal by ME Okere from an adverse judgment rendered against him after an appeal from a justice court to a Dallas County Court at Law. The Dallas County Court at Law held that it lacked jurisdiction of Okere=s appeal. We agree and affirm.
Okere was an employee of the Dallas County Community College District. Believing that Okere had stolen chairs from it, the District fired him and requested that he remove his personal belongings from his office. While there is some debate over whether he attempted to remove his property, Okere claimed that his supervisor, Jeffrey Blatt, took it; and Okere sued him in justice court.
On January 18, 2000, the justice court entered judgment for Blatt. Okere filed a motion for new trial on February 1, 2000, and the motion was denied on February 2, 2000. On February 14, 2000, Okere asked the justice court to reinstate his case, and his motion for new trial was set for hearing on February 28, 2000. The motion for new trial was denied; and, on March 2, 2000, Okere filed an appeal bond seeking an appeal of the judgment to a Dallas County Court at Law.
In the Dallas County Court at Law, Blatt filed a motion to dismiss as well as a plea to the jurisdiction. The Dallas County Court at Law granted the motion and the plea and dismissed Okere=s lawsuit with prejudice.
Okere brings four points of error. His first three points generally deal with the jurisdictional issue. Because they are interrelated and because the jurisdictional issue is dispositive of this appeal, we will address the first three issues together.
TEX.R.CIV.P. 567-570 govern new trials in the justice court. TEX.R.CIV.P. 571-574b govern appeals from the justice court.
Rule 569 provides that all motions for new trial are to be filed within five days after the rendition of judgment in the justice court. Rule 567 provides that a justice court may grant a new trial within ten days of rendition of judgment. Okere did not file his motion for new trial within five days of the rendition of the judgment against him. The justice court did not act upon the motion within ten days of the date of rendition of judgment.
Rule 571 governs the time for filing an appeal bond in an appeal from a justice court judgment. That rule provides that an appeal bond from a justice court judgment must be filed within ten days after a motion for new trial has been overruled. The time for filing an appeal bond is not extended by the filing of a motion for new trial in justice court lawsuits. Searcy v. Sagullo, 915 S.W.2d 595 (Tex.App. B Houston [14th Dist.] 1996, no writ). Okere did not file his appeal bond timely.
Because Okere filed neither his motion for new trial nor his appeal bond in a timely fashion, the trial court did not err in dismissing his lawsuit. We overrule Okere=s first three points of error. We need not discuss the fourth point since the trial court had no jurisdiction over the appeal from the justice court.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
JIM R. WRIGHT
JUSTICE
September 13, 2001
Do not publish. See TEX.R.APP.P. 47.3(b).
Panel consists of: Arnot, C.J., and
Wright, J., and McCall, J.