ACCEPTED
01-15-00583-CV
FIRST COURT OF APPEALS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
8/4/2015 5:37:03 PM
CHRISTOPHER PRINE
CLERK
No. 01-15-00583-CV
In the First Court of Appeals FILED IN
1st COURT OF APPEALS
THE HONORABLE MARK HENRY,COUNTY JUDGE HOUSTON,
OF TEXAS
8/4/2015 5:37:03 PM
GALVESTON COUNTY, CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
Clerk
Appellant
v.
THE HONORABLE LONNIE COX,
Appellee
From the 56th Judicial District Court of
Galveston County, Texas, Cause No. 15CV0583
OBJECTION TO MOTION TO ABATE, ETC.
TO THE HONORABLE FIRST COURT OF APPEALS:
On August 3, 2015, Appellant filed a Motion with a lengthy caption
beginning “Motion to Abate the Due Date….” That motion is merely an
elaborately camouflaged Motion for Extension of Time under TRAP 10.5, and is
not filed for any proper purpose.
In ordinary circumstances Appellee and his counsel would not object to any
reasonable extension of briefing dates, whether for convenience or otherwise.
However, this is not an ordinary case. It is an accelerated appeal involving a
serious matter of statewide interest, i.e., the independence of the judiciary. It is a
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case in which the orders of Appellee and a visiting judge are being disobeyed to
the extent that an executive level employee of the county has been working for
almost two months, since June 8, 2015, without pay.
This case is a war of delay and attrition on the part of Appellant. In the past
week and within the personal knowledge of the undersigned attorney, Justice
Administration Director Quiroga has again been locked out of her office pursuant
to a reported reassignment of office space; continues to go unpaid; and has no
county phone or computer access.
To the extent that the recent Motion is simply an embellished Motion for
extension under TRAP 10.5, the necessary grounds are not shown. The cases cited
at p. 3 of the Motion are all now completed, i.e., the most recent of the briefings
was filed on July 31, 2015.
Appellant has far more resources than most litigants—at the expense of
Galveston County Taxpayers. At last count, three firms and about seven lawyers
appear on Appellant’s pleadings before this court. Mr. Ed Friedman (Baker &
Hostetler) , who represented Appellant at the hearings of June 19, 22, 23 and July
6, remains on the pleadings and is thoroughly familiar with those proceedings. To
the extent that jurisdictional issues must be briefed, Appellant has the benefit of his
own appellate counsel; of Mr. Friedman and his associates, and of the Austin
firm of Allison, Bass & Magee, who have done extensive briefing in the course of
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prior mandamus actions in this court and before the Texas Supreme Court, albeit to
no effect.
The firm of Beirne Maynard & Parson entered this case per letter of Mr.
Joseph Nixon (previously produced to this Court) on July 14, 2015. The Reporter’s
Record in this case was filed on July 17, 2015. The current deadline for
Appellant’s Brief is August 6, 2015, per TRAP 38.6.
Prayer
The Motion in question should be denied insofar as it seeks to establish a
separate briefing schedule or to “abate” any aspect of this case.
To the extent that Appellant seeks any extension under TRAP 10.5, such
extension should be denied or, if granted, should not go past Thursday, August 20,
2015, i.e., 20 days from the date of the last brief filed by listed Appellate Counsel
and 33 days following the filing of the reporter’s record herein.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Mark W. Stevens
Mark W. Stevens
TBN 19184300
P. Box 8118
Galveston, Texas 77553
409.765.6306
Fax 409.765.6459
Email: markwandstev@sbcglobal.net
Counsel for
th
Lonnie Cox of the 56 Judicial District Court
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Certificate of Compliance
The foregoing instrument in relevant parts contains 389 words in Times
New Roman Type, with text double spaced and extended quotes in 2.0 spacing.
/s/ Mark W. Stevens
Mark W. Stevens
Certificate of Service
The foregoing was efiled and e-mailed PDF to Mr. Edward Friedman on
August 4, 2015 at efriedman@bakerlaw.com, and also to James P. Allison
(j.allison@allison-bass.com) ; J. Eric Magee (e.magee@allison-bass.com); and
Phillip Ledbetter (p.ledbetter@allison-bass.com) and N. Terry Adams, Jr. at the
firm of Beirne Maynard Parsons LLP (tadams@bmpllp.com) . An additional copy
of this instrument has been served via email to Mr. Joseph M. Nixon at the firm of
Bierne, Maynard & Parsons (jnixon@bpmllp.com) and to James P. Allison at
j.allison@allison-bass.com.
/s/ Mark W. Stevens
Mark W. Stevens
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