in the Matter of the Marriage of Clifford Layne Harrison and Connie v. Harrison

ACCEPTED 14-15-00430-cv FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 12/1/2015 2:47:11 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK CAUSE NO. 14-15-00430-CV In the Court of Appeals 14th COURT FILED IN OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS for the Fourteenth Judicial District12/1/2015 2:47:11 PM Houston, Texas CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk IN THE MATTER OF THE MARRIAGE OF CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON AND CONNIE V. HARRISON On Appeal from the 311th Judicial District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2006-68864 MOTION TO DISMISS SARAH H. JOYCE | ATTORNEY AT LAW Sarah Hirsch Joyce State Bar No. 24092522 3355 W. Alabama St. Suite 825 Houston, Texas 77098 (T) (713) 529-3982 (F) (855) 624-7224 sjoyce@sjoycelaw.com Attorney for Clifford Harrison, Appellee TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS: Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a)(1) and prior order of this Court, Appellee, CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON, asks this Court to dismiss the appeal and deny Appellant, CONNIE V. HARRISON any further requested relief. In support, Appellee would show as follows: The Appellant filed her Notice of Appeal in this matter on April 29, 2015. This Court gave the Appellant notice that her brief was due within thirty (30) days of the clerk’s record in this case having been filed. The clerk’s record in this appeal was filed on September 11, 2015. Thus, the original deadline for submission of Appellant’s brief was October 12, 2015. Appellant’s brief was not filed. By a letter dated October 29, 2015 this Court notified Appellant that Appellant’s brief was now due on or before November 30, 2015 and failure to file by November 30, 2015 would result in dismissal of the appeal for want of prosecution. On November 16, 2015, Mr. Alan Daughtry, Counsel for Appellant, initiated conference with Appellee’s counsel regarding our position on an extension of time to file Appellant’s brief. That same day, counsel notified Mr. Daughtry that Appellee was in fact opposed to such an extension. Nine (9) days later, on November 25, 2015, Mr. Daughtry filed a “Notice of Appearance of Counsel for Appellant Connie Harrison” with this Court. The November 30, 2015 deadline for Appellant to submit her brief has since come and gone, with no brief having been submitted on behalf of Appellant, CONNIE V. HARRISON, in this matter. On December 1, 2015, Counsel received an email from Appellant’s Counsel, Mr. Alan Daughtry, attached was a copy of Appellant’s “Motion to Extend Time to File Appellant’s Brief.” Mr. Daughtry advised counsel that the Motion had already been filed with the Court, and explained that service was prevented because he encountered an issue with counsel’s email registered with electronic service registry. The sole copy counsel has received of Appellant’s motion is neither time- stamped nor file-marked. Further, as of the filing of this Motion, the Court’s website does not reflect that Appellant’s Motion to Extend has been filed with the Court. Any difficulty encountered in filing and serving the motion may be explained due in part to the incorrect case number listed on Appellant’s Motion. Regardless, the fact remains that Appellant’s brief is now seven (7) weeks past due. Appellant has already been afforded one extension with the stipulation that failure to adhere to the deadline would result in dismissal. Furthermore, Mr. Daughtry has been engaged in this case for some period of time and was aware of Appellee’s opposition to any further extensions in this case, yet two (2) weeks transpired before this request for an extension was even made. Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a)(1) allows an appellate court to dismiss an appeal for want of prosecution in civil cases when an appellant fails to timely file its brief. Appellee, CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON, now asks this Court to deny Appellant’s Motion for Extension of Time to File Appellant’s Brief and to dismiss the appeal pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a)(1) and pursuant to this Court’s October 29, 2015 order. PRAYER For these reasons, Appellee, CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON requests this Honorable Court dismiss the appeal and grant such other and further relief for which the Court deems proper. Respectfully submitted, _____________________________ SARAH HIRSCH JOYCE SBN: 24092522 3355 W. Alabama St., Suite 825 Houston, Texas 77098 Tel: (713) 529-3982 Fax: (855) 624-7224 sjoyce@sjoycelaw.com Attorney for Appellee CLIFFORD LAYNE HARRISON CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that a true copy of the above was served on the following attorneys of record by the method indicated in accordance with the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure on this 1st day of December, 2015: ALAN B. DAUGHTRY State Bar No. 00793583 3355 W. Alabama St. Suite 444 Houston, Texas 77098 (T) 281-300-5202 (F) 281-404-4478 alan@alandaughtrylaw.com Attorney for Connie V. Harrison, Appellant _____________________________ SARAH HIRSCH JOYCE