Jay Sandon Cooper and Teresa Ward Cooper v. State

DISMISS and Opinion Filed October 28, 2014. S In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-14-01054-CV JAY SANDON COOPER AND TERESA WARD COOPER, Appellants V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, COLLIN COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY GREG WILLIS, CITY OF PLANO, TEXAS, THOMAS MUELENBECK, MARK ISRAELSON, BRUCE GLASSCOCK, SCOTT NEUMEYER, GREGORY RUSHIN, PETE GABRIEL, DOUGLAS ANGLE, RICHARD PEREZ, COURTNEY PERO, EARNEST OLDHAM, GLENN KALETTA, EDDIE DELEON, JOSEPH CLAGGETT, JENNIFER DAY, JAMAL MURRAY, PAUL MCNULTY, AND CHAD BEOUGHER, ALL INDIVIDUALLY AND IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES, Appellees On Appeal from the 416th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 416-00043-2014 MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Bridges, Lang, and Evans Opinion by Justice Lang In a letter dated September 30, 2014, the Court questioned its jurisdiction over this appeal. Specifically, there did not appear to be an appealable order. We instructed appellants to file, within ten days, a letter brief addressing our jurisdictional concern with an opportunity for appellees to respond. As of today’s date, appellants have not filed a letter brief. Generally, this Court has jurisdiction only over appeals from final judgments. See Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001). A final judgment is one that disposes of all pending parties and claims. Id. An appellate court lacks jurisdiction to review an interlocutory order unless a statute specifically authorizes an exception to the general rule that appeals may only be taken from final judgments. See Qwest Communications Corp. v. AT&T Corp., 24 S.W.3d 334, 336 (Tex. 2000). In the notice of appeal, appellants state they are appealing from the “Orders/Rulings on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike, Plaintiffs’ Motion to Show Authority, and the Contest of Plaintiffs’ Rule 145 Affidavit.” None of these orders is a final judgment. Moreover, there is no statute authorizing an appeal from an indigency ruling pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 51.014(a) (West Supp. 2014). Thus, there is no final judgment or appealable interlocutory order. For this reason, this Court lacks jurisdiction. We dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a). /Douglas S. Lang/ DOUGLAS S. LANG JUSTICE 141054F.P05 –2– S Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas JUDGMENT JAY SANDON COOPER AND TERESA On Appeal from the 416th Judicial District WARD COOPER, Appellants Court, Collin County, Texas. Trial Court Cause No. 416-00043-2014. No. 05-14-01054-CV V. Opinion delivered by Justice Lang. Justices Bridges and Evans, participating. THE STATE OF TEXAS, COLLIN COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY GREG WILLIS, CITY OF PLANO, TEXAS, THOMAS MUELENBECK, MARK ISRAELSON, BRUCE GLASSCOCK, SCOTT NEUMEYER, GREGORY RUSHIN, PETE GABRIEL, DOUGLAS ANGLE, RICHARD PEREZ, COURTNEY PERO, EARNEST OLDHAM, GLENN KALETTA, EDDIE DELEON, JOSEPH CLAGGETT, JENNIFER DAY, JAMAL MURRAY, PAUL MCNULTY, AND CHAD BEOUGHER, ALL INDIVIDUALLY AND IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES, Appellees In accordance with this Court’s opinion of this date, the appeal is DISMISSED. It is ORDERED that appellees THE STATE OF TEXAS, COLLIN COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY GREG WILLIS, CITY OF PLANO, TEXAS, THOMAS MUELENBECK, MARK ISRAELSON, BRUCE GLASSCOCK, SCOTT NEUMEYER, GREGORY RUSHIN, PETE GABRIEL, DOUGLAS ANGLE, RICHARD PEREZ, COURTNEY PERO, EARNEST OLDHAM, GLENN KALETTA, EDDIE DELEON, JOSEPH CLAGGETT, JENNIFER DAY, JAMAL MURRAY, PAUL MCNULTY, AND CHAD BEOUGHER, ALL INDIVIDUALLY AND IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES recover their costs of this appeal from appellants JAY SANDON COOPER AND TERESA WARD COOPER. Judgment entered this 28th day of October, 2014. –3–