Whittney Ford v. Jim Davis, in His Official Capacity as Interim President of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at Austin

ACCEPTED
15-25-00123-CV
FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
10/6/2025 4:10 PM
No. 15-25-00123-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
______________________________ CLERK
FILED IN
15th COURT OF APPEALS
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS
FOR THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
10/6/2025 4:10:17 PM
______________________________CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
Clerk

WHITTNEY FORD,
Plaintiff/Appellant,

v.

JIM DAVIS AND THE UNIVERSITY OFTEXAS AT AUSTIN,
Defendants/Appellees

On Appeal from Cause No. D-1-GN-24-002171, in the
261st District Court of Travis County, Texas
______________________________

APPELLEES JIM DAVIS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT
AUSTIN’S OPPOSED MOTION TO EXTEND TIME TO FILE
APPELLEES’ BRIEF
______________________________

TO THE HONORABLE FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS:

Appellees, Jim Davis, in his official capacity as President of The University of

Texas at Austin, and the University of Texas at Austin, pursuant to Tex. R. App. P.

38.6(d), file this Opposed Motion to Extend Time to File Appellees’ Brief and would

respectfully shows as follows:

1. The deadline for Appellees’ Brief is set for October 15, 2025.

2. Appellees’ counsel requests a 14-day extension to this deadline, until

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October 29 2025, to file Appellees’ Brief.

3. Appellees’ counsel Rachel Behrendt is tasked with writing Appellees’ Brief.

Due to unforeseen health reasons, Ms. Behrendt will be undergoing a medical

procedure several weeks earlier than initially scheduled. This procedure will occur

later this week and will cause Ms. Behrendt to be out of commission for several days.

Ms. Behrendt is also needing to take leave earlier this week in preparation of said

procedure. A recent weeklong jury trial (Arnulfo P. Alcorta, et al. v. Glenn Allen

Hegar, Jr., Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Cause No. D-1-GN-17-006831 in the

200th Judicial District, Travis County, TX) and deadlines for briefing in numerous

other matters since (Alan Scott Caver v. Attorney General of Texas, Cause No. CIV23-

0603 in the 411th District Court of Polk County, TX; Johnny Ray Gaskin v. Univ. of

Houston Police Dep’t, Case No. 4:25-cv-01658 in the United States District Court for

the Southern District of Texas; Manuel J. Montemayor v. Tex. Dep’t of Ins., Case No.

1-24-cv-00146 in the United States District for the Southern District of Texas; and

Sam Wise v. Tex. State Board Of Dental Examiners, Case No. 2:25-cv-01167-JNW in

the United State District Court for the Western District of Washington) has

prevented her from making significant progress on Appellees’ Brief. Zachary Rhines,

who also represented the University of Texas at Austin and President Davis in trial

court, will not be appearing as appellate counsel anymore. He is no longer assigned

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to this case because has transitioned to another division with the Attorney General’s

Office and has a different caseload and job duties. Nor would he be able to

meaningfully contribute otherwise due to these different job duties and full caseload,

notably, with his work on League of United Latin American Citizens, et al., v. Greg

Abbott, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Texas, et al., Case No. 3:21-

CV-00259-DCG-JES-JVB in the United States District Court for the Western

District of Texas.

4. The undersigned respectfully requests additional time to review

Whittney Ford’s Appellant’s Brief and adequately brief the relevant issues.

5. This is Appellees’ second request for an extension in this case. This

request is sought not for the purposes of delay, but so that justice may be done.

6. On October, 6 2025, the undersigned conferred with Appellant, who is

opposed to the requested extension.

Respectfully submitted,

KEN PAXTON
Attorney General of Texas

BRENT WEBSTER
First Assistant Attorney General

RALPH MOLINA
Deputy First Assistant Attorney General

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AUSTIN KINGHORN
Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation

KIMBERLY GDULA
Division Chief, General Litigation Division

/s/ Rachel L. Behrendt
RACHEL L. BEHRENDT
Texas Bar No. 24130871
Assistant Attorney General

P.O. Box 12548, Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711-2548
Telephone: (737) 231-8329
Facsimile: (512) 320-0667
Rachel.Behrendt@oag.texas.gov
Zachary.Rhines@oag.texas.gov

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

On October 6, 2025, counsel for Appellees conferred with Appellant Whittney
Ford, regarding the foregoing motion. Mr. Ford informed the undersigned that he is
opposed to this motion.

/s/ Rachel L. Behrendt
RACHEL L. BEHRENDT
Assistant Attorney General

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing instrument has
been served on October 6, 2025, on all counsel of record and the following party by
e-service:

Whittney Ford
4151 Wellborn Road
Apartment 1101A
Bryan, Texas 77801
Tel: (979) 264-4944
wjacksonford@gmail.com

Plaintiff Pro Se

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Automated Certificate of eService
This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system.
The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system
on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing
certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a
certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Ariana Ines on behalf of Rachel Behrendt
Bar No. 24130871
ariana.ines@oag.texas.gov
Envelope ID: 106506384
Filing Code Description: Motion
Filing Description: APPELLEES JIM DAVIS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF
TEXAS AT AUSTINS OPPOSED MOTION TO EXTEND TIME TO FILE
APPELLEES BRIEF
Status as of 10/6/2025 5:02 PM CST

Associated Case Party: The University of Texas at Austin

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Zachary Rhines 24116957 zachary.rhines@oag.texas.gov 10/6/2025 4:10:17 PM SENT

Martin Cohick 24134042 martin.cohick@oag.texas.gov 10/6/2025 4:10:17 PM SENT

Rachel Behrendt 24130871 rachel.behrendt@oag.texas.gov 10/6/2025 4:10:17 PM SENT

Case Contacts

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Wolfgang P.Hirczy de Mino wphdmphd@gmail.com 10/6/2025 4:10:17 PM SENT

Ariana Ines ariana.ines@oag.texas.gov 10/6/2025 4:10:17 PM SENT

Associated Case Party: Whittney Ford

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Whitney Ford wjacksonford@gmail.com 10/6/2025 4:10:17 PM SENT