Opinion issued July 25, 2019
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-19-00490-CV
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IN THE INTEREST OF A.L.B. AND A.M.B., CHILDREN
On Appeal from the 315th District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Case No. 2015-02581J
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant, A.B., proceeding pro se, attempts to appeal from the trial court’s
final decree for termination, signed on June 13, 2017. The appellee, the Texas
Department of Family and Protective Services, has filed a motion to dismiss the
appeal as untimely. We agree, grant the motion, and dismiss this appeal for want of
jurisdiction.
This is an accelerated appeal from a final order in a suit in which the
termination of the parent-child relationship is at issue (“parental termination case”).
See TEX. R. APP. P. 28.4(a). Generally, a notice of appeal is due within twenty days
after the final judgment or order is signed in an accelerated appeal, such as this
parental termination case, but the deadline to file a notice of appeal is extended to
ninety days after the date the judgment is signed if, within thirty days after the
judgment is signed, any party timely files a post-judgment motion. See id.
26.1(a)(1), (b); TEX. R. CIV. P. 329b(a), (g).
Here, the district clerk’s letter of assignment lists a related appeal, assigned to
appellate cause number 01-17-00547-CV, which we affirmed the final decree on
December 21, 2017. See In the Interest of A.L.B., No. 01-17-00547-CV, 2017 WL
6519969, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Dec. 21, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op.).
Appellant’s notice of appeal incorrectly lists December 21, 2017, as the date of the
final decree when that was actually the date of this Court’s opinion. This Court’s
mandate from that prior appeal, under 01-17-00547-CV, filed by appellant, A.B.,
and represented by counsel, lists the final decree as being signed on June 13, 2017.
Our mandate issued March 2, 2018. Thus, despite that appellant already appealed
this final decree once before, because appellant’s notice of appeal was due within
twenty days after the final decree was signed on June 13, 2017, or by July 3, 2017,
her June 20, 2019 notice of appeal was untimely filed by nearly two years. See TEX.
2
R. APP. P. 26.1(b). Without a timely filed notice of appeal, this Court lacks
jurisdiction over this second appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.1, 26.1.
The Clerk of this Court’s July 9, 2019 notice warned appellant that this appeal
was subject to dismissal for want of jurisdiction unless she timely responded within
ten days of that notice and showed how this Court had jurisdiction. See TEX. R. APP.
P. 42.3(a), (c). Appellee then filed this motion to dismiss this appeal as untimely on
July 11, 2019. Appellant failed to adequately respond to either the notice or motion.1
Accordingly, we grant appellee’s motion and dismiss this appeal for want of
jurisdiction. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f). We dismiss any other pending
motions as moot.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Justices Keyes, Kelly, and Goodman.
1
On July 18, 2019, appellant filed a letter and a copy of her counsel’s brief filed in
the prior appeal, 01-17-00547-CV, but she did not address this Court’s jurisdiction
over this second appeal.
3