in the Interest of E.A., a Child

Opinion filed October 4, 2012

 

                                                                       In The

                                                                             

  Eleventh Court of Appeals

                                                                   __________

 

                                                         No. 11-12-00255-CV

                                                    __________

 

                             IN THE INTEREST OF E.A., A CHILD

 

                                   On Appeal from the 326th District Court

 

                                                            Taylor County, Texas

 

                                                   Trial Court Cause No. 7074-CX

 

 

                                            M E M O R A N D U M    O P I N I O N

            This is an appeal from a final judgment signed on July 20, 2012.  A clerk’s record has not been filed in this court.  However, the trial court clerk’s office forwarded a docketing statement setting out the filing dates of the relevant documents along with a copy of the notice of appeal.  The docketing statement indicates that this is an appeal from a parental termination or child protection proceeding.  Accordingly, this is an accelerated appeal pursuant to Tex. R. App. P. 28.4.  In order to have timely perfected the appeal, appellant, E.M., was required to file the notice of appeal on or before August 9, 2012.  See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(b) (twenty-day deadline for perfecting an accelerated appeal), 28.1(b).  Appellant did not file her notice of appeal until August 16, 2012.  Accordingly, the notice of appeal is untimely.  We dismiss the appeal.

When the clerk’s docketing statement was received in this court, the clerk of this court wrote the parties on August 29, 2012, informing them that it appeared that the notice of appeal was untimely.  The clerk’s letter requested appellant to provide a written response on or before September 13, 2012, showing grounds for continuing this appeal.  The clerk’s letter further advised appellant that the appeal may be dismissed absent a reasonable explanation for the untimely notice of appeal.  There has been no response to our letter of August 29, 2012. 

            Absent a timely notice of appeal, a timely motion to extend time, or the proper showing of compliance with the good faith requirement of Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615 (Tex. 1997), the appellate jurisdiction of this court is not invoked.  Appellant has not met any of these requirements.  Therefore, this appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

 

                                                                                                PER CURIAM

 

 

October 4, 2012

Panel[1] consists of: Wright, C.J.,

McCall, J., and Hill.[2]

 

 



                [1]Eric Kalenak, Justice, resigned effective September 3, 2012.  The justice position is vacant pending appointment of a successor by the governor or until the next general election.

 

[2]John G. Hill, Former Chief Justice, Court of Appeals, 2nd District of Texas at Fort Worth, sitting by assignment.