Opinion
No. 14-03-00766-CV
Memorandum Opinion filed October 2, 2003.
Appeal from the 152nd District Court, Harris County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. 01-06203
Dismissed.
Panel consists of Chief Justice BRISTER and Justices ANDERSON and SEYMORE.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This is an attempted appeal from a judgment signed March 8, 2003. Appellant prematurely filed a motion for new trial on January 3, 2003, and he filed an amended motion for new trial on April 7, 2003 . . . Appellant's notice of appeal was not filed until July 1, 2003.
When appellant has filed a timely motion for new trial, motion to modify the judgment, motion to reinstate, or request for findings of fact and conclusion of law, the notice of appeal must be filed within ninety days after the date the judgment is signed. See Tex.R.App.P. 26.1(a).
Appellant's notice of appeal was not filed timely. Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 26.3 permits the appellate court to extend the time to file the notice of appeal if a motion for extension of time is filed within fifteen days after the deadline for filing the notice of appeal. A motion for extension of time is necessarily implied when an appellant, acting in good faith, files a notice of appeal beyond the time allowed by rule 26.1, but within the fifteen-day grace period provided by Rule 26.3 for filing a motion for extension of time. See Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617-18 (1997) (construing the predecessor to Rule 26). The appellant must offer a reasonable explanation for failing to file the notice of appeal in a timely manner, however. See Tex.R.App.P. 26.3, 10.5(b)(1)(C); Verburgt, 959 S.W.2d at 617-18. Appellant's notice of appeal was not filed within the fifteen-day period provided by rule 26.3.
On September 11, 2003, notification was transmitted to all parties of the Court's intent to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex.R.App.P. 42.3(a). Appellant filed a response in which counsel asserts is miscalculated the appellate timetable based on his understanding that the ninety-day period ran from the filing of the amended motion for new trial rather than from the date the judgment was signed.
The time deadlines for filing a notice of appeal are jurisdictional in this Court, and absent a timely filed notice of appeal, we must dismiss the appeal. See Tex.R.App.P. 25.1(b); Verburgt, 959 S.W.2d at 617 (holding once extension period has passed, a party can no longer invoke an appellate court's jurisdiction).
Accordingly, the appeal is ordered dismissed.