Shirley Adams, Charlene Burgess, Willie Mae Herbst Jasik, William Albert Herbst, Helen Herbst and R. May Oil & Gas Company, Ltd. v. Murphy Exploration & Production Co.-USA, a Delaware Corporation

Murphy Exploration & Production Co.-USA, A Delaware Fourth Court of Appeals San Antonio, Texas May 8, 2015 No. 04-15-00118-CV Shirlely ADAMS, Charlene Burgess, Willia Mae Herbst Jasik, William Albert Jasik, and R. May Oil & Gas Company, Ltd., Appellants v. MURPHY EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION CO.-USA, A DELAWARE CORPORATION, Appellee From the 218th Judicial District Court, Atascosa County, Texas Trial Court No. 13-05-0466-CVA Honorable Stella Saxon, Judge Presiding ORDER This court originally set a due date of April 13, 2015, for the filing of appellants’ brief. Appellants requested a thirty-day extension of time, which was granted, making appellant’s brief due May 13, 2015. Now, appellants have filed what they entitle a second motion for extension of time to file the brief, advising that they have been unable to complete the brief because during the preparation of the brief, they discovered the clerk’s record is incomplete. Specifically, the record is incomplete in the sense that although certain pleadings were included in the record, numerous attachments or portions of attachments to certain pleadings were not included. Appellants have, in writing, advised the District Clerk of Atascosa County, Margaret Littleton, that the clerk’s record is incomplete and have requested that she filed an amended or corrected clerk’s record, including the items that were included in the original clerk’s record filed in this court, but with the proper attachments. Appellants have also requested that the district clerk include their original letter of February 25, 2015, designating the record, and their recent letter of May 5, 2015, identifying those items missing from the original record. Appellants ask that this court either: (1) set a brief due date thirty days after a complete amended clerk’s record is filed; or (2) grant them a thirty-day extension of time to file appellants’ brief. Based on the foregoing, we ORDER the Atascosa County District Clerk to file an amended clerk’s record in this court containing all of the items included in the original clerk’s record previously filed in this court, but including the missing attachments identified by appellants. As noted by appellants, this will require the clerk to file a complete, renumbered clerk’s record with all of the pleadings with their attachments, as well as all the other items required to be in the record and those requested by appellants. The filing of an amended record is necessary to ensure compliance with the order from the Texas Supreme Court governing the proper form of a clerk’s record, specifically the portion of the order that requires documents in a clerk’s record to be: (1) arranged in ascending chronological order, by date of filing or occurrence; and (2) consecutively numbered. TEXAS SUPREME COURT ORDER DIRECTING THE FORM OF THE APPELLATE RECORD IN CIVIL COPY (Misc. Docket No. 97-9144, Aug. 15, 1997) § A.1.(c), (d). The district clerk is specifically advised that it is not sufficient simply to file a supplemental clerk’s record with the missing documents as this will not comply with the supreme court’s order regarding form. See id. We ORDER that the amended clerk’s record be filed in this court on or before June 8, 2015. We ask that when the amended record is filed in this court that appellants review it to ensure it complies with their request and this court’s order. If the amended record is not compliant with the request or order, appellants should advise the district clerk and this court immediately. Appellants’ brief will be due thirty days after the date the amended clerk’s record is filed. Thus, appellants’ motion is GRANTED as described in this order. We further order the clerk of this court to serve a copy of this order on the Atascosa County District Clerk and all counsel. _________________________________ Marialyn Barnard, Justice IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said court on this 8th day of May, 2015. ___________________________________ Keith E. Hottle Clerk of Court