Darrell J. Harper v. State ( 2020 )

Opinion issued March 24, 2020
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-20-00094-CV
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DARRELL J. HARPER, Appellant
V.
STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 165th District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Case No. 2015-05008
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant, Darrell J. Harper, attempts to appeal the trial court’s
undetermined action that occurred on January 27, 2020. We dismiss the appeal for
lack of jurisdiction.
Appellant has been declared a vexatious litigant and is subject to a prefiling
order. Accordingly, appellant may not proceed with an appeal without a
permission order from the local administrative judge. Because appellant has not
obtained such an order, we dismiss the appeal.
The Office of Court Administration website lists all vexatious litigants
subject to prefiling orders. See Office of Court Administration, List of Vexatious
Litigants Subject to Prefiling Order, http://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-
data/vexatious-litigants/ (list last updated January 23, 2020); see also TEX. CIV.
PRAC. & REM. CODE § 11.104(b) (requiring office of court administration to
maintain list and post list of vexatious litigants on agency’s website). Appellant is
one such litigant. This pre-filing order was signed on January 20, 2015, in Darrell
J. Harper v. State of Texas, Cause No. D-1-GN-14-004224 in the 201st District
Court of Travis County, Texas. See Office of Court Administration List of
Vexatious Litigants Subject to Pre-Filing Orders under Section 11.101, Civil
Practice and Remedies Code, available at
http://www.txcourts.gov/media/843678/Darrell-Harper.pdf (last viewed February
6, 2020); see also Douglas v. Am. Title Co., 196 S.W.3d 876, 878 n.2 (Tex. App.—
Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, no pet.) (taking judicial notice of Harris County record of
vexatious litigants).
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The Clerk of this Court may not file an appeal presented by a vexatious
litigant subject to a prefiling order unless (1) the litigant first obtains an order from
the local administrative judge permitting the filing or (2) the appeal is from a
prefiling order designating the person a vexatious litigant. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. &
REM. CODE § 11.103(a), (d). Appellant’s appeal is not an appeal from the prefiling
order designating him a vexatious litigant. Thus, appellant may not proceed with
his appeal unless the local administrative judge permitted this filing.
This Court issued a notice to appellant advising him that we would dismiss
his appeal unless he responded within 10 days with proof that, before filing the
appeal, he had obtained an order from the local administrative judge permitting the
appeal. Appellant did not adequately respond to the notice and the record is devoid
of any order permitting the filing of the appeal.
Because appellant fails to make the requisite showing that the local
administrative judge permitted the appeal, we dismiss the appeal. See Kastner v.
Fulco, No. 01–13–00100–CV, 2013 WL 6157392, at *1–2 (Tex. App.—Houston
[1st Dist.] Nov. 21, 2013, no pet.) (dismissing appeal after providing notice of
intent to dismiss because vexatious litigant appellant failed to provide copy of
order permitting filing of appeal); McCray v. Prudential Ins., No. 14–12–00860–
CV, 2012 WL 5586804, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Nov. 15, 2012, no
pet.) (same).
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Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a); 43.2(f).
We dismiss any pending motions as moot.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Chief Justice Radack and Justices Kelly and Goodman.
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