Opinion
No. 6829.
Decided April 17, 1935.
Appeal and Error — Appeal Bond — Time of Filing.
Where appeal bond is filed at any time prior to the expiration of thirty days after a motion for new trial has been overruled by operation of law, the appeal should not have been dismissed.
Error to the Court of Civil Appeals for the First District, in an appeal from Harris County.
Suit by Thomas against Murphy and others in trespass to try title, in which defendants filed cross-action. It involved the title and right of possession of twenty acres of land in Harris County. Trial before a jury on special issues resulted in a verdict for defendant. While pending in the Court of Civil Appeals appellees filed a motion to dismiss because appellant Thomas had not filed his motion for new trial within the thirty days required by statute, which motion was granted and the case dismissed ( 70 S.W.2d 1020) and Thomas has brought error to the Supreme Court.
The case was referred to the Commission of Appeals, Section B, for their opinion thereon and the Supreme Court adopted same and ordered judgment entered in accordance therewith.
Reversed and remanded to Court of Civil Appeals.
Weslow, Beadle Mooney, of Houston, for plaintiff in error.
Court has right to pass upon motion for new trial within 45 days after it is filed, though not formally presented within the 30 days required by statutes. Nevitt v. Wilson, 116 Tex. 29, 285 S.W. 1079; Marquis v. Reed, 46 S.W.2d 711.
Sewall, Taylor, Morris Garwood, R. E. Seagler and Fulbright, Crooker Freeman, all of Houston, for defendants in error.
This case is ruled by Independent Life Insurance Company of America v. Work, 124 Tex. 281, 77 S.W.2d 1036; Dallas Storage Warehouse Company v. Taylor, 124 Tex. 315, 77 S.W.2d 1031, and Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Texas v. Wilkirson, 124 Tex. 312, 77 S.W.2d 1035, construing Subdivisions 28, 29 and 30 of Article 2092, Revised Civil Statutes of 1925, after the amendment of Section 28 by Chapter 70, Acts 5th Called Session, 41st Legislature, (1930).
Judgment was rendered in the trial court on December 13, 1933, against plaintiff in error, and in favor of defendants in error. On December 21, 1933, plaintiff in error filed his motion for new trial, which was not presented to the court until January 29, 1934, when it was overruled by the court because presented more than thirty days after its filing. Plaintiff in error filed his appeal bond on February 13, 1934. The Court of Civil Appeals dismissed the appeal. 70 S.W.2d 1020.
The motion for new trial was overruled by operation of law at the expiration of thirty days from December 21, 1933, the date of its filing, that is on January 20, 1934. The appeal bond was filed, as required by Subdivision 31 of Article 2092, within thirty days after the date last named. The appeal should not have been dismissed.
The judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals dismissing the appeal is reversed and the cause is remanded to that court.
Opinion adopted by the Supreme Court April 17, 1935.