Cynthia G. Mitchell v. Carlos Hernandez

In the
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-25-00022-CV

CYNTHIA G. MITCHELL, ET AL., Appellants

V.

CARLOS HERNANDEZ, ET AL., Appellees

On Appeal from the 5th District Court
Cass County, Texas
Trial Court No. 25C029

Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Rambin
MEMORANDUM OPINION

On March 21, 2025, Appellants filed a notice of appeal from the trial court’s order

granting a motion for sanctions, which the trial court severed as a final order on February 11,

2025. Under Rule 26.1 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, a “notice of appeal must be

filed within 30 days after the judgment is signed” unless a qualifying post-judgment motion is

filed that extends that deadline to ninety days. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1(a). Based on the record

before this Court, there were no post-judgment motions filed in this matter that extended the

filing deadline; thus, the deadline for filing a notice of appeal from the trial court’s February 11,

2025, order granting the motions for sanctions was March 13, 2025. The notice of appeal in this

matter was not filed until March 21, 2025, making it untimely.

Although the fifteen-day motion for extension of time contemplated by Rule 26.3 of the

Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure is implied in civil cases, an appellant must also provide a

reasonable explanation for the late filing to avoid dismissal of the appeal. In re G.J.P., 314

S.W.3d 217, 221 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2010, pet. denied).

By letter dated May 27, 2025, we requested that Appellants file with this Court a

reasonable explanation for the late filing of their notice of appeal. We warned Appellants that, if

we did not receive an adequate response on or before June 6, 2025, we could dismiss the appeal

for want of jurisdiction. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3. Appellants did not respond to our request. As

a result, this appeal is ripe for dismissal.

2
We dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.

Jeff Rambin
Justice

Date Submitted: June 12, 2025
Date Decided: June 13, 2025

3