in the Matter of the Marriage of Mary-Olga Lovett and John Robert Lovett, Jr. ( 2018 )

Motion Denied, Appeal Dismissed, and Memorandum Opinion filed August 2, 2018. In The Fourteenth Court of Appeals NO. 14-16-00965-CV IN THE MATTER OF THE MARRIAGE OF MARY-OLGA LOVETT AND JOHN ROBERT LOVETT, JR. On Appeal from the 308th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2015-23544 MEMORANDUM OPINION This appeal began in December 2016. In January 2017, we abated the appeal on the parties’ agreement for sixty days and referred them to mediation. For the next year, appellant Mary-Olga Lovett alternated between seeking continuations of the abatement to complete mediation and seeking reinstatement because mediation had failed. In January 2018, we ordered her to file a brief by February 8, 2018, and cautioned we would dismiss the brief for lack of prosecution if she did not file a brief. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(b). No brief was filed. On February 15, 2018, appellee John Robert Lovett, Jr. filed a motion asking us to retain the appeal rather than dismiss it for lack of prosecution. He cited Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.8(a)(3), which permits a court of appeals in a case in which no appellant’s brief has been filed to “regard [appellee’s] brief as correctly presenting the case and . . . affirm the trial court’s judgment upon that brief without examining the record.” Tex. R. App. P. 38.3(a)(3). At his request, we have granted appellee a total of 151 days—until July 16, 2018—to file his brief. When we granted the most recent extension, we noted no further extensions would be granted absent extraordinary circumstances. On July 19, 2018, appellee filed another motion for extension to file his brief, this time until September 16, 2018. No extraordinary circumstances were alleged. We DENY appellee’s motion for extension. We DISMISS the appeal for appellant’s lack of prosecution. PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Boyce, Christopher, and Busby 2