ACCEPTED
03-14-00713-CV
4960364
THIRD COURT OF APPEALS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
April 20, 2015 4/20/2015 4:51:43 PM
JEFFREY D. KYLE
CLERK
No. 03-14-00713-CV
In The Court of Appeals
For the Third Judicial District
Austin, Texas
GLENN HEGAR, COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS, AND
KEN PAXTON, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF TEXAS,
Appellants,
v.
CGG VERITAS SERVICES (U.S.), INC.,
Appellee.
On Appeal from the
353rd Judicial District Court of Travis County, Texas
APPELLANTS’ AMENDED THIRD MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME
TO THE HONORABLE THIRD COURT OF APPEALS:
In accordance with Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 10.5(b) and 38.6(d),
Appellants Glenn Hegar, Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas, and
Ken Paxton, Attorney General of the State of Texas, moved on April 14, 2015 for an
extension of time to file their brief on April 20, 2015. Appellee did not oppose the
motion. Because that motion has not yet been ruled upon, Appellants file this amended
motion requesting the extension of the deadline for filing their brief. That brief was
filed on April 20, 2015.
I.
Appellants’ brief was due on April 15, 2015. Appellants sought an unopposed
extension that would make their brief due on April 20, 2015. Two previous extensions
were previously granted.
Appellants sought an extension due to counsel’s workload commitments and not
for purposes of delay. Appellants’ counsel requested that the Court extend the briefing
deadline due to the Fifth Circuit’s scheduling of a hearing in a different case. The Fifth
Circuit set a hearing on the United States of America’s emergency motion for stay
pending appeal in Case No. 15-40238, State of Texas, et al. v. United States of America, et al.
(5th Cir. 2015). The hearing took place in New Orleans on April 17, 2015. Due to the
significance of the legal issues and the interests implicated by the twenty-six state
lawsuit, each side was granted an hour for argument at the hearing.
Counsel was required to spend extensive amounts of time not only preparing
lead counsel for that Fifth Circuit stay hearing—a type of hearing that is rarely
granted—but also in preparing briefs in that case and the related cases, some of which
are proceeding on an expedited basis. Those filings included:
• Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Stay Pending Appeal of
the Court’s February 162, 2015 Order of Preliminary Injunction, Case No.
1:14-cv-254 (S. D. Tex. 2014), filed March 4, 2015;
• Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion for Stay Pending Appeal, No. 15-40238
(5th Cir. 2015), filed March 23, 2015;
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• Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Brief on Motion for Stay Pending Appeal, No.
15-40238 (5th Cir. 2015), filed April 14, 2015 (6,000 word brief authorized
and scheduled by the Court);
• Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Affirmance-in-Part and Dismissal-in-Part,
No. 15-40333 (5th Cir. 2015), filed March 27, 2015.
Counsel also was required to prepare a brief for filing in the U.S. Supreme Court
in the event that the Fifth Circuit immediately ruled upon the motion for stay following
the hearing.
Counsel also had a number of other significant workload commitments in other
matters during the same timeframe, including drafting the following:
• Motion to Dismiss or Affirm, Evenwel v. Abbott, No. 14-940 (U.S. 2015), filed
April 6, 2015; and
• Petition for Writ of Mandamus, In re DePinho, 15-0294 (Tex. 2015), filed April
16, 2015
An extension therefore was requested to accommodate Appellants’ counsel’s
workload and to provide a brief that was helpful to the court.
II.
For this reason, counsel for Appellants respectfully request that the Court grant
Appellants’ Amended Unopposed Third Motion for an Extension of Time, making the
Appellants’ brief due on April 20, 2015.
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PRAYER
Appellants respectfully request that the Court grant the requested extension of
time to file its brief, making that brief due on April 20, 2015.
Respectfully submitted.
KEN PAXTON
Attorney General of Texas
CHARLES E. ROY
First Assistant Attorney General
SCOTT A. KELLER
Solicitor General
/s/ April L. Farris
APRIL L. FARRIS
Assistant Solicitor General
State Bar No. 24069702
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
P.O. Box 12548 (MC 059)
Austin, Texas 78711-2548
Tel.: (512) 936-2923
Fax: (512) 474-2697
april.farris@texasattorneygeneral.gov
COUNSEL FOR APPELLANTS
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CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE
I hereby certify that on April 20, 2015, I contacted counsel for Appellee. Counsel
does not oppose this amended motion.
/s/ April L. Farris
April L. Farris
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing document has been
electronically filed and served via File&ServeXpress on April 20, 2015, to the following:
Amanda Taylor
State Bar No. 24045921
James F. Martens
State Bar No. 13050720
Lacy Leonard
State Bar No. 24040561
MARTENS TODD LEONARD & TAYLOR
301 Congress Ave., Suite 1950
Austin, Texas 78701
Tel.: (512) 542-9898
Fax: (512) 542-9899
ataylor@textaxlaw.com
jmartens@textaxlaw.com
lleonard@textaxlaw.com
Counsel for Appellee
/s/ April L. Farris
April L. Farris
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