Nikki Sides Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Thomas Middleton v. Texas Department of Criminal Justice ( 2015 )

ACCEPTED 01-15-00004 FIRST COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 11/20/2015 11:56:08 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK No. 01-15-00004-CV FILED IN 1st COURT OF APPEALS IN THE HOUSTON, TEXAS 11/20/2015 11:56:08 PM FIRST COURT OF APPEALS CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk HOUSTON, TEXAS NIKKI SIDES, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF THOMAS MIDDLETON Plaintiff-Appellant v. THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE Defendant-Appellee On Appeal from the 400th Judicial District Court, Fort Bend County; Trial Cause No. 14-DCV-212749 APPELLANT’S SECOND MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE MOTIONS FOR REHEARING AND REHEARING EN BANC TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS: Comes Now Nikki Sides individually and on behalf of the estate of Thomas Middleton, the Plaintiff-Appellant, (hereafter “Appellant”), and files this her Motion for Extension of time to file a motion for rehearing and/or rehearing en banc from, and would respectfully show the following: 1. Appellant brought this suit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for injuries and death caused by their conditions and/or use of property, under the Texas Tort Claims Act, Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code chapter 101. 2. On December 5, 2014, the trial court dismissed Appellant’s claims, granting the plea to the jurisdiction of Defendant-Appellee, Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 3. Appellant timely appealed to this Court. 4. On November 3, 2015, the Court issued an opinion affirming the decision of the trial court. 5. The original deadline for seeking rehearing and rehearing en banc is November 18, 2015. 6. Appellant filed a motion seeking an extension of time by two (2) days, until November 20, 2015, which the Court granted. 7. Appellant’s undersigned counsel requires an additional one (1) calendar day to complete the filing. Counsel has worked diligently on the motion(s), but has experienced unexpected technical issues that caused the loss of portions of the briefing, and loss of time attempting to retrieve material and resolve the problem. 8. Appellant’s counsel requires additional time to adequately and clear ly brief the issues for the Court’s consideration. 2 CONCLUSION & PRAYER WHEREFORE, Appellant respectfully prays that the Honorable Court grant this Motion and extend the time for Appellant to file motions seeking rehearing and/or rehearing en banc until and through November 23, 2015. This Motion is not made for delay alone, but that justice be done. Respectfully Submitted, /s/ Larry Watts Laurence (“Larry”) Watts State Bar No. 20981000 Melissa Azadeh State Bar No. 24064851 P.O. Box 2214 Missouri City, Texas 77459 Tel (281) 431-1500 Fax (877) 797-4055 wattstrial@gmail.com ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT 3 VERIFICATION I, Larry Watts, verify on penalty of perjury that above and foregoing facts not contained within the record are true and correct to my personal knowledge. November 20, 2015 /s/ Larry Watts Dated Laurence (“Larry”) Watts 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on this 20th day of November 2015, a true and correct copy of the foregoing document was served on opposing counsel(s) of record by e- service, if available, and/or by facsimile transmission, to: Kim Coogan Assistant Attorney General Law Enforcement Defense Division Office of the Attorney General of Texas Post Office Box 12548 Austin, Texas 78711 Email: kim.coogan@texasattorneygeneral.gov /s/ Larry Watts Laurence (“Larry”) Watts 5 CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE I hereby certify that due to the late hour and unanticipated nature of this Motion, I have not been able to confer with opposing counsel of record, Ms. Kim Coogan. It should therefore be assumed that the Motion is opposed. /s/ Larry Watts Laurence (“Larry”) Watts 6