Laura Leticia Zepeda Vasquez, Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Jose Abraham Vasquez,Jr. v. Legend Natural Gas III, LP Legend Natural Gas, LLC Lewis Energy Group, LP And Lewis Petro Properties, Inc ( 2015 )

ACCEPTED 04-14-00899-cv FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 5/13/2015 5:28:01 PM KEITH HOTTLE CLERK No. 04-14-00899-CV ___________________________________________________________________ IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FILED IN 4th FOR THE FOURTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS ___________________________________________________________________ 05/13/2015 5:28:01 PM KEITH E. HOTTLE LAURA LETICIA ZEPEDA VASQUEZ, INDIVIDUALLY AND ONClerk BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF JOSE ABRAHAM VASQUEZ, JR., Appellant V. LEGEND NATURAL GAS III L.P., ET AL., Appellees ____________________________________________________________________ On Appeal from the 81st Judicial District Court La Salle County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 14-07-0019-CVL ____________________________________________________________________ FIRST UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF FOR APPELLEE, XTO ENERGY, INC. ____________________________________________________________________ TO THE HONORABLE FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS: INTRODUCTION Appellee, XTO Energy, Inc., files this unopposed motion for extension of time to file its brief, pursuant to Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 10.5(b) and 38.7(d), and would show this Court as follows. Appellee’s counsel has conferred with counsel for Appellant regarding the relief requested in this motion, and Appellant’s counsel is unopposed to the motion. This is Appellee’s first motion for an extension of time for the filing of its brief. TEX. R. APP. P. 10.5(b)(1)(D). GROUNDS FOR EXTENSION The Court may, under Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.6(d), extend the time for a party to file its brief. The filing deadline for Appellee’s brief was April 30, 2015, according to this Court’s website. Counsel for Appellee sincerely apologizes to this Court for his oversight and inadvertence that was partly to blame for his not filing a brief for Appellee by this deadline. Counsel for Appellee received notices from this Court, but through inadvertence, simply forgot to calendar the briefing deadline in this matter. In addition, counsel for Appellee has been diligently working on several other matters with concurrent deadlines, and lacked sufficient time to prepare a brief for filing by this deadline, as explained further below. Appellee respectfully requests that this Court grant it an extension of time of 21 days from the original filing deadline to file its brief in this matter. This would make Appellee’s brief due to be filed by May 21, 2015, which is next week. Appellee has received the briefs filed by other similar situated parties in this matter, and would also note that this Court recently granted an extension to Appellees, Virtex Operating Co. Inc. and Virtex Holdings, L.L.P., to file their brief by May 15, 2015. In addition, Jose E. Garcia, lead counsel for Appellee, has spent a substantial part of the briefing period on several other complex matters, including the following: 2  preparing for trial and mediation in In Re Jorge Santiago, Jr., et. al. v. The Carpenter Co., et al., in the 139th Judicial District Court, Hidalgo County, Texas;  preparing for trial and for five depositions in In Re Regina Rae Trevino, et. al.. v. Strike Construction, et. al., in the 398th Judicial District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas; and  preparing for and attending mediation in In Re Lorena Vasquez, et. al. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., et. al., in the 332nd Judicial District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas. As a result of the press of these other pending matters, in all likelihood, counsel for Appellees would have needed to request an extension of the April 30, 2015 filing deadline in any event. For all of these reasons, good cause exists for the requested extension. The facts in this motion are within the personal knowledge of the attorney signing this motion. TEX. R. APP. P. 10.2. PRAYER FOR RELIEF For the reasons stated above, Appellee XTO Energy, Inc. respectfully requests that this Court grant it an extension of time to May 21, 2015, to file its brief in this matter. Counsel for Appellee again apologizes to this Court for his inadvertence in not filing a brief or requesting an extension to do so sooner. 3 Respectfully submitted, /s/ Jose E. Garcia Jose E. Garcia State Bar No. 07636780 Francisco Rene Villarreal State Bar No. 00789706 GARCIA & VILLARREAL, PLLC 4311 North McColl Road McAllen, Texas 78502 956-630-0081 956-630-3631 Facsimile panchov@gvlaw.net COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE, XTO ENERGY, INC. CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE On May 13, 2015, Appellee’s counsel conferred with counsel for Appellant who indicated he is unopposed to the relief sought herein. /s/ Jose E. Garcia Jose E. Garcia 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that a true copy of this document was served via the e-filing system (if the individual was registered for service) and as shown below on May 13, 2015. Jeffrey L. Dorrell HANSZEN LAPORTE, L.L.P. William A. Abernethy 11767 Katy Fwy., Ste. 850 DONNELL ABERNETHY Houston, TX 77079 & KIESCHNICK, P.C. Email: jdorrell@hanszenlaporte.com 555 N. Carancahua, Ste. 1700 Corpus Christi, Texas 78401-0583 Isaac J. Huron Email: babernathy@dakpc.com DAVIS CEDILLO & MENDOZA, INC. E. Michael Rodriguez McCombs Plaza, Suite 500 ATLAS HALL & 755 E. Mulberry Ave. RODRIGUEZ, L.L.P. San Antonio, Texas 78212 PO Box 6369 Email: ihuron@lawdcm.com 50 W. Morrison Rd., Ste. A Brownsville, Texas 78523-6369 David L. Ortega Email: mrodriguez@atlashall.com Richard McNitzky NAMAN HOWELL Brian Miller SMITH & LEE, PLLC VICKERY & WILLIAMS, L.L.P. Union Square II Frost Bank Plaza, Suite 1300 10001 Reunion Place, Suite #600 802 N. Carancahua St. San Antonio, Texas 78216 Corpus Christi, Texas 78401 Email: dortega@namanhowell.com Email: brian.miller@roystonlaw.com rmcnitzky@namanhowell.com /s/ Jose E. Garcia Jose E. Garcia 5