Gordon R. Simmonds v. Norma A. Harrison

Opinion filed January 6, 2011

 

                                                                       In The

                                                                             

  Eleventh Court of Appeals

                                                                   __________

 

                                                         No. 11-09-00359-CV

                                                    __________

 

                               GORDON R. SIMMONDS, Appellant

 

                                                             V.

 

                                  NORMA A. HARRISON, Appellee

 

                                   On Appeal from the 259th District Court

 

                                                             Jones County, Texas

 

                                                     Trial Court Cause No. 021973

 

 

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

            Gordon R. Simmonds sued Norma A. Harrison in her official capacity as a mailroom administrative assistant at the French Robertson Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Institutional Division.  Simmonds alleged that Harrison denied him access to a package because money was due.  Simmonds sought $612.20 for actual damages plus damages for mental suffering and emotional distress as well as exemplary, punitive, and treble damages.  The trial court granted Harrison’s motion to dismiss, finding that Simmonds failed to comply with the requirements of Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. §§ 14.001-.014 (Vernon 2002) and that Simmonds’s claims were frivolous.  We affirm.

            On appeal, Simmonds contends that the trial court erred by dismissing without holding a hearing and before he had filed a response to the motion to dismiss, by not amending its judgment and reinstating his case, and by holding that his claims were frivolous.  Simmonds also argues that the district clerk failed to perform a ministerial duty in preparing the clerk’s record.

            Section 14.008 provides that the trial court may hold a hearing but does not require that one be held and does not require that a response be filed before the trial court dismisses the action.  The clerk’s record and the supplemental clerk’s records filed in this court contain the documents required under Tex. R. App. P. 34.5.  This record does not support Simmonds’s claims that the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing his case.  Moreover, we note that Simmonds’s petition does not state a nonfrivolous cause of action.

            All of Simmonds’s arguments have been considered, and each is overruled.  The order of the trial court is affirmed.

 

 

                                                                                                PER CURIAM

 

January 6, 2011

Panel consists of:  Wright, C.J.,

McCall, J., and Strange, J.