NUMBER 13-13-00406-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
MEERA SINGH AND GEORGE
SAM HOUSTON A/K/A SAM HOUSTON Appellant,
v.
BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., MARY DAFFIN,
AND STEVE TURNER Appellees.
On appeal from the 277th District Court
of Williamson County, Texas.
MEMORANDUM OPINION1
Before Justices Benavides, Perkes, and Longoria
Memorandum Opinion Per Curiam
This appeal arises out of a lawsuit filed by appellants, Meera Singh and George
Sam Houston a/k/a Sam Houston (“appellants”) against appellees, Bank of America N.A.,
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This case is before this Court on transfer from the Third Court of Appeals in Austin pursuant to a
docket-equalization order issued by the Supreme Court of Texas. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001
(West 2005).
Mary Daffin, and Steve Turner (“appellees”) wherein appellants allege various causes of
action, including for wrongful foreclosure. We dismiss the appeal for want of
prosecution.
On August 27, 2013, this Court advised appellants that the appendix to their brief
was received, but did not comply with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.1(k). See
TEX. R. APP. P. 38.1(k) (requiring appellants’ briefs in civil cases to contain: (1) a copy of
the trial court’s judgment or other appealable order from which relief is sought; (2) the jury
charge and verdict, if any, or the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, if any;
and (3) the text of any rule, regulation, ordinance, statute, constitutional provision, or
other law (excluding case law) on which the argument is based, and the text of any
contract or other document that is central to the argument). Accordingly, we gave
appellants ten days from the date of the notice to cure the defect or face, among other
things, potential dismissal of their appeal. See id. at R. 38.9(a), 42.3(b), (c).
On September 5, 2013, this Court received appellants’s amended appendix
consisting of a letter, a CD, and loose pages of documents. We again notified appellants
that their amended appendix did not comply with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure
38.1(k) and that there was no certificate of service in accordance with Texas Rule of
Appellate Procedure 9.5(e). See id. at R. 38.1(k), 9.5(e). Accordingly, we directed
appellants to file an amended appendix that complies with the stated rule within ten days.
This Court again notified appellants that failure to cure these defects would result in a
possible dismissal of their appeal. See id. at R. 38.9(a), 42.3(b), (c).
On September 16, 2013, this Court received appellants’s amended appendix
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consisting of a document entitled “Williamson County, Texas Real Property Records
Audit Report” dated January 29, 2013. For a third time, this appendix did not comply with
Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.1(k).
In the interim, appellants have filed the following motions: (1) motion to disqualify
appellees’s counsel filed September 16, 2013; (2) motion for preliminary injunctive relief
filed September 20, 2013; (3) motion for appointment of counsel filed September 30,
2013; and (4) motion to strike appellees’s response to appellant’s motions for preliminary
injunctive relief and to disqualify appellees’s counsel filed October 3, 2013. All four of
these motions are hereby denied.
Pro se litigants are held to the same standards as licensed attorneys, and they
must therefore comply with all applicable rules of procedure. Mansfield State Bank v.
Cohn, 573 S.W.2d 181, 184-85 (Tex. 1978). If a party files a brief that does not comply
with the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, and that party files an amended brief that
likewise does not comply with the rules, Athe court may strike the brief, prohibit the party
from filing another, and proceed as if the party had failed to file a brief.@ TEX. R. APP. P.
38.9(a). Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a), where an appellant has
failed to file a brief, the appellate court may dismiss the appeal for want of prosecution.
Accordingly, we strike appellant=s non-conforming brief and order the appeal
DISMISSED FOR WANT OF PROSECUTION. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a), 38.9(a),
42.3(b)(c).
PER CURIAM
Delivered and filed the
7th day of November, 2013.
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