in Re Carlton Sewell ( 2015 )

In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana No. 06-15-00032-CV IN RE CARLTON SEWELL Original Mandamus Proceeding Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ. ORDER On June 25, 2015, Carlton Sewell filed a petition seeking a writ of mandamus. By letter of that same date, this Court requested that the real parties in interest file a response to that petition on or before July 6, 2015. The real parties in interest have now filed a motion through their attorney, Chad Cable, seeking an eighteen-day extension of the July 6 deadline for filing their response. In his motion, counsel does not provide the Court with a reasonable explanation of the need for an extension of time. This Court interprets Rule 10.5(b)(1) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure as requiring counsel to provide specific information to justify a requested extension, including the facts relied on to reasonably explain the need for an extension. Broad, general statements do not provide the required facts and are not adequate to meet the requirements of the rule. See TEX. R. APP. P. 10.5(b)(1). All future motions to extend time must contain case-specific information adequate to justify the request, or they will be denied. In this instance, we grant the real parties’ motion for an extension of time; however, we only grant a ten-day extension, rather than the eighteen-day extension sought in the motion. Thus, the real parties’ response is now due to be filed with this Court on or before July 16, 2015. Absent extraordinary circumstances, further requests for extensions of time will not be granted. IT IS SO ORDERED. BY THE COURT Date: July 7, 2015 2