Laura Leticia Zepeda Vasquez, Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Jose Abraham Vasquez,Jr. v. Legend Natural Gas III, LP Legend Natural Gas, LLC Lewis Energy Group, LP And Lewis Petro Properties, Inc
ACCEPTED
04-14-00899-cv
FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
5/13/2015 5:28:01 PM
KEITH HOTTLE
CLERK
No. 04-14-00899-CV
___________________________________________________________________
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FILED IN
4th
FOR THE FOURTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
___________________________________________________________________
05/13/2015 5:28:01 PM
KEITH E. HOTTLE
LAURA LETICIA ZEPEDA VASQUEZ, INDIVIDUALLY AND ONClerk
BEHALF
OF THE ESTATE OF JOSE ABRAHAM VASQUEZ, JR.,
Appellant
V.
LEGEND NATURAL GAS III L.P., ET AL.,
Appellees
____________________________________________________________________
On Appeal from the 81st Judicial District Court
La Salle County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 14-07-0019-CVL
____________________________________________________________________
FIRST UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME
TO FILE BRIEF FOR APPELLEE, XTO ENERGY, INC.
____________________________________________________________________
TO THE HONORABLE FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS:
INTRODUCTION
Appellee, XTO Energy, Inc., files this unopposed motion for extension of
time to file its brief, pursuant to Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 10.5(b) and
38.7(d), and would show this Court as follows. Appellee’s counsel has conferred
with counsel for Appellant regarding the relief requested in this motion, and
Appellant’s counsel is unopposed to the motion. This is Appellee’s first motion
for an extension of time for the filing of its brief. TEX. R. APP. P. 10.5(b)(1)(D).
GROUNDS FOR EXTENSION
The Court may, under Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.6(d), extend the time
for a party to file its brief. The filing deadline for Appellee’s brief was April 30,
2015, according to this Court’s website.
Counsel for Appellee sincerely apologizes to this Court for his oversight and
inadvertence that was partly to blame for his not filing a brief for Appellee by this
deadline. Counsel for Appellee received notices from this Court, but through
inadvertence, simply forgot to calendar the briefing deadline in this matter. In
addition, counsel for Appellee has been diligently working on several other matters
with concurrent deadlines, and lacked sufficient time to prepare a brief for filing by
this deadline, as explained further below.
Appellee respectfully requests that this Court grant it an extension of time of
21 days from the original filing deadline to file its brief in this matter. This would
make Appellee’s brief due to be filed by May 21, 2015, which is next week.
Appellee has received the briefs filed by other similar situated parties in this
matter, and would also note that this Court recently granted an extension to
Appellees, Virtex Operating Co. Inc. and Virtex Holdings, L.L.P., to file their brief
by May 15, 2015.
In addition, Jose E. Garcia, lead counsel for Appellee, has spent a substantial
part of the briefing period on several other complex matters, including the
following:
2
preparing for trial and mediation in In Re Jorge Santiago, Jr., et. al. v.
The Carpenter Co., et al., in the 139th Judicial District Court, Hidalgo
County, Texas;
preparing for trial and for five depositions in In Re Regina Rae Trevino,
et. al.. v. Strike Construction, et. al., in the 398th Judicial District Court
of Hidalgo County, Texas; and
preparing for and attending mediation in In Re Lorena Vasquez, et. al. v.
Costco Wholesale Corp., et. al., in the 332nd Judicial District Court of
Hidalgo County, Texas.
As a result of the press of these other pending matters, in all likelihood,
counsel for Appellees would have needed to request an extension of the April 30,
2015 filing deadline in any event. For all of these reasons, good cause exists for the
requested extension.
The facts in this motion are within the personal knowledge of the attorney
signing this motion. TEX. R. APP. P. 10.2.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
For the reasons stated above, Appellee XTO Energy, Inc. respectfully
requests that this Court grant it an extension of time to May 21, 2015, to file its
brief in this matter. Counsel for Appellee again apologizes to this Court for his
inadvertence in not filing a brief or requesting an extension to do so sooner.
3
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Jose E. Garcia
Jose E. Garcia
State Bar No. 07636780
Francisco Rene Villarreal
State Bar No. 00789706
GARCIA & VILLARREAL, PLLC
4311 North McColl Road
McAllen, Texas 78502
956-630-0081
956-630-3631 Facsimile
panchov@gvlaw.net
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE,
XTO ENERGY, INC.
CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE
On May 13, 2015, Appellee’s counsel conferred with counsel for Appellant
who indicated he is unopposed to the relief sought herein.
/s/ Jose E. Garcia
Jose E. Garcia
4
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I certify that a true copy of this document was served via the e-filing system
(if the individual was registered for service) and as shown below on May 13, 2015.
Jeffrey L. Dorrell
HANSZEN LAPORTE, L.L.P. William A. Abernethy
11767 Katy Fwy., Ste. 850 DONNELL ABERNETHY
Houston, TX 77079 & KIESCHNICK, P.C.
Email: jdorrell@hanszenlaporte.com 555 N. Carancahua, Ste. 1700
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401-0583
Isaac J. Huron Email: babernathy@dakpc.com
DAVIS CEDILLO &
MENDOZA, INC. E. Michael Rodriguez
McCombs Plaza, Suite 500 ATLAS HALL &
755 E. Mulberry Ave. RODRIGUEZ, L.L.P.
San Antonio, Texas 78212 PO Box 6369
Email: ihuron@lawdcm.com 50 W. Morrison Rd., Ste. A
Brownsville, Texas 78523-6369
David L. Ortega Email: mrodriguez@atlashall.com
Richard McNitzky
NAMAN HOWELL Brian Miller
SMITH & LEE, PLLC VICKERY & WILLIAMS, L.L.P.
Union Square II Frost Bank Plaza, Suite 1300
10001 Reunion Place, Suite #600 802 N. Carancahua St.
San Antonio, Texas 78216 Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
Email: dortega@namanhowell.com Email: brian.miller@roystonlaw.com
rmcnitzky@namanhowell.com
/s/ Jose E. Garcia
Jose E. Garcia
5