Thomas Satterthwaite Jr. and Jessica Shaw v. First Bank D/B/A First Bank Mortgage and Its Successors and Assigns ( 2020 )

In the
Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
at Fort Worth
___________________________
No. 02-20-00182-CV
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THOMAS SATTERTHWAITE JR. AND JESSICA SHAW, Appellants
V.
FIRST BANK D/B/A FIRST BANK MORTGAGE AND ITS SUCCESSORS AND
ASSIGNS, Appellee
On Appeal from County Court at Law No. 2
Denton County, Texas
Trial Court No. CV-2020-00263-JP
Before Gabriel, Kerr, and Birdwell, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Gabriel
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellants Thomas Satterthwaite Jr. and Jessica Shaw attempt to appeal from
the county court’s judgment of possession, which was signed on March 16, 2020.
Because Appellants did not timely file their notice of appeal, we dismiss their appeal
for want of jurisdiction.
Appellee First Bank filed a forcible-detainer action against Appellants, asserting
a superior right to possession to a home in Frisco. See Tex. Prop. Code Ann.
§ 24.002. On March 16, 2020, the trial court signed a judgment of possession, finding
Appellants “guilty of Forcible Detainer” and ordering that First Bank have possession
of the property. The trial court also ordered Appellants evicted from the property
and set an “appeal bond” in the amount of “$2,750.00 per month due on the 1st day
of the month.” See id. §§ 24.0061, 24.007; Tex. R. Civ. P. 510.13. Appellants filed a
notice of appeal from the judgment of possession on June 16, 2020—92 days after the
judgment had been signed.
On July 2, we notified Appellants that because no post-judgment motion had
been filed, the notice of appeal had been due no later than April 15; thus, we
questioned our jurisdiction over Appellants’ attempted appeal. See Tex. R. App. P.
26.1, 42.3(a). We warned Appellants that we could dismiss their appeal if they did not
respond showing grounds for our jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3. Appellants
responded and asserted that on June 5—81 days after the judgment of possession had
been signed—they had filed an “emergency motion on the writ of possession” and
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that the trial court had ruled that they “had until June 15, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. to provide
documentation showing the perfection of an appeal.” Appellants contend that they
believed this acted as an extension of the appellate deadline.
An extension of time to file a notice of appeal may only be granted by this
court, not the county court, and must be sought within 45 days of the date of the
judgment if no timely post-judgment motion is filed. See Tex. R. App. P. 3.1(b),
26.1(a), 26.3; In re J.A., 53 S.W.3d 869, 872 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2001, no pet.). See
generally Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997) (“[O]nce the period for
granting a motion for extension of time under Rule [26.3] has passed, a party can no
longer invoke the appellate court’s jurisdiction.”). Even if Appellants’ emergency
motion regarding the writ of possession were considered to be a post-judgment
motion, it was filed more than 30 days after the trial court signed the judgment of
possession; thus, the emergency motion did not operate to extend the notice-of-
appeal deadline. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1(a); Tex. R. Civ. P. 329b(a). Accordingly,
Appellants did not file an effective post-judgment motion, extending the appellate
deadline, nor did they file their notice of appeal or an equivalent filing within 30 days
of the trial court’s judgment of possession. Absent these actions, we do not have
jurisdiction over Appellants’ appeal and we dismiss it.1 See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f);
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We recognize that the Texas Supreme Court has issued an emergency order
regarding the COVID-19 state of disaster that extends filing and service deadlines
falling between March 13, 2020, and June 1, 2020. However, this order specifies that
the extension “does not include deadlines for perfecting appeal.” Tex. Sup. Ct., Misc.
3
Webb-Goodwin v. Trails of White Rock, No. 05-18-00145-CV, 2018 WL 1281305, at *1
(Tex. App.—Dallas Mar. 13, 2018, no pet.) (mem. op.).
/s/ Lee Gabriel
Lee Gabriel
Justice
Delivered: July 30, 2020
Docket No. 20-9059 (Apr. 27, 2020); see also Tex. Sup. Ct., Misc. Docket No. 20-9071
(May 26, 2020) (renewing April 27, 2020 emergency order regarding extensions).
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