In the
Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
at Fort Worth
___________________________
No. 02-20-00198-CV
___________________________
AUDREY JONES, Appellant
V.
JOAN E. WHITE, Appellee
On Appeal from County Court at Law No. 1
Tarrant County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2019-008429-1
Before Kerr, Birdwell, and Bassel, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Kerr
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Pro se appellant Audrey Jones attempts to appeal from the trial court’s April 2,
2020 final judgment in appellee Joan E. White’s favor after a bench trial at which
Jones failed to appear. Because no postjudgment motion was filed to extend the
notice-of-appeal filing deadline, Jones’s notice of appeal was due May 4, 2020, but it
was not filed until June 11, 2020, making it untimely. See Tex. R. App. P. 4.1(a), 26.1.
We notified the parties of our concern that we lack jurisdiction over this appeal
because Jones’s notice of appeal was untimely filed.1 See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1. We
warned that we could dismiss this appeal absent a response showing grounds for
continuing it. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 44.3. Jones has responded.
In her response, Jones claims that she did not timely receive the trial court’s
hearing notice because it was caught by her email inbox’s spam filter. Jones—a
hairstylist by trade—implies that because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, she
was tasked with being a “teacher, counselor, [and] preacher” to her three school-age
children. As a result, her “life was pretty out of order,” “she was focused on the
situations that we are facing,” and “[l]ife is not normal.” She asks us to allow her to
appeal the judgment because she does not have or owe White anything.
The time for filing a notice of appeal is jurisdictional in this court, and absent a
timely filed notice of appeal or a timely filed extension request, we must dismiss the
1
Our letter mistakenly stated that the notice of appeal was due May 1, 2020.
2
appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 2, 25.1(b), 26.1, 26.3; Jones v. City of Houston, 976 S.W.2d
676, 677 (Tex. 1998); Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). During this
pandemic, the Texas Supreme Court has given us the discretion to “modify or
suspend any and all deadlines and procedures, whether prescribed by statute, rule, or
order.” Supreme Court of Tex., Twenty-Second Emergency Order Regarding the
COVID-19 State of Disaster, Misc. Dkt. No. 20-9095 (Aug. 6, 2020). But the fact of
the pandemic, standing alone, is not a reasonable explanation for a missed appellate
deadline.
Here, Jones’s notice of appeal was untimely filed, and she did not timely move
for an extension of time to file it. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1, 26.3. Jones does not claim
in her response that she did not receive timely notice of the trial court’s judgment (as
opposed to notice of the hearing) or that she did not have actual knowledge of the
judgment’s signing. See Tex. R. App. P. 4.2(a)(1). But even if she did make either
argument, she made no effort to comply with Rule 306a(5) of the Texas Rules of Civil
Procedure. See Tex. R. App. P. 4.2(b); Tex. R. Civ. P. 306a(5). Nor does she claim that
the pandemic or its effects prevented her from timely filing her notice of appeal or
timely moving for an extension of time to do so. We thus dismiss this appeal for want
of jurisdiction. 2 See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).
2
While a notice of appeal in a restricted appeal may be filed within six months
after the judgment is signed, see Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(c), Jones’s notice of appeal does
not contain the information required for a restricted appeal, see Tex. R. App. P.
25.1(d)(7). See generally Tex. R. App. P. 30 (“A party who did not participate—either in
3
/s/ Elizabeth Kerr
Elizabeth Kerr
Justice
Delivered: September 24, 2020
person or through counsel—in the hearing that resulted in the judgment complained
of and who did not timely file a postjudgment motion or request for findings of fact
and conclusions of law, or a notice of appeal within the time permitted by Rule
26.1(a), may file a notice of appeal within the time permitted by Rule 26.1(c).”). We
express no opinion whether Jones would prevail on a restricted appeal were she to file
one within the applicable time period. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(c), 26.3.
4