Loruhamah Dickey v. Harris County, City of Houston, Houston Community College System, Houston Independent School District ( 2019 )

Opinion issued April 30, 2019
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-18-00639-CV
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LORUHAMAH DICKEY, Appellant
V.
HARRIS COUNTY, CITY OF HOUSTON, HOUSTON COMMUNITY
COLLEGE SYSTEM, HOUSTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT,
Appellees
On Appeal from the 125th District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 2016-02269
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant, Loruhamah Dickey, proceeding pro se, timely filed a notice of
appeal from the June 15, 2018 final judgment in this property tax case. See TEX. R.
APP. P. 26.1.
This Court’s March 19, 2019 Order struck the March 11, 2019 pro se
appellant’s brief as non-compliant and ordered appellant to file a compliant amended
brief within 10 days. It also denied without prejudice appellees’ motion to dismiss
for want of prosecution.
Then this Court’s April 9, 2019 Order denied appellant’s construed motion
for notice of removal to federal court and ordered her to file an amended brief that
complied with Rule 38.1 within 10 days of that Order. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.1(a)-
(k), 38.9(a). The Order further notified appellant that, because appellees’ brief had
been filed on March 15, 2019, the Court might affirm the trial court’s judgment upon
the appellees’ brief without examining the record if no appellant’s brief were timely
filed. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(3).
On April 8 and 25, 2019, the appellees filed a second and third motion to
dismiss for want of prosecution. Appellant failed to timely file her amended brief.
When an appellant fails to file a brief in a civil appeal, as here, the appellate
court may: (1) dismiss the appeal for want of prosecution; (2) decline to dismiss the
appeal and give further direction to the case as it considers proper; or (3) regard an
appellee’s brief as correctly presenting the case and affirm the trial court’s judgment
on that brief without examining the record. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a). On March
15, 2019, the appellees filed a brief on the merits requesting that this Court affirm
the trial court’s judgment. Because the appellees filed a brief on the merits, this
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Court accepts the appellees’ brief as correctly presenting the case and we affirm the
judgment upon that brief without examining the record. See TEX. R. APP. P.
38.8(a)(3); Harkins v. Dever Nursing Home, 999 S.W.2d 571, 573 (Tex. App.—
Houston [14th Dist.] 1999, no pet.) (affirming trial court’s respective summary
judgments based on appellees’ briefs alone without examining record, under Rule
38.8(a)(3), because appellants’ amended brief had not substantially complied with
rules).
Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s final judgment upon the appellees’
brief. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(a)(3), 43.2(a). We dismiss all pending motions as
moot.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Justices Keyes, Higley, and Landau.
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