In Re Juan Oltiveras v. the State of Texas ( 2024 )

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo No. 07-24-00022-CV IN RE JUAN OLTIVERAS On Appeal from the 242nd District Court Castro County, Texas Trial Court No. B9545-1211-A, Honorable Kregg Hukill, Presiding April 18, 2024 ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND Before QUINN, C.J., and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ. New England Annuity Associates, LLC, appeals from the trial court’s summary judgment order. The clerk’s record was originally due February 2, 2024, but was not filed. We subsequently granted the trial court clerk an extension to March 22, 2024, to file the record and admonished her that failure to comply with this deadline could result in the appeal being abated and the cause remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. To date, the clerk has neither filed the record nor sought an extension of time to do so. Accordingly, we abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings. See TEX. R. APP. P. 35.3(c) (“The trial and appellate courts are jointly responsible for ensuring that the appellate record is timely filed.”); 37.3(a)(2) (requiring appellate courts to “make whatever order is appropriate to avoid further delay and to preserve the parties’ rights” when the appellate record is not timely filed). On remand, the trial court shall determine the following: (1) what tasks remain to complete the filing of the clerk’s record; (2) why the clerk has not completed the necessary tasks; and (3) what amount of time is reasonably necessary to complete the record. The trial court is directed to enter such orders necessary to address the aforementioned questions. So too shall it include its findings on those matters in a supplemental clerk’s record and cause that record to be filed with this Court by May 20, 2024. Should the clerk file the record on or before May 2, 2024, she is directed to immediately notify the trial court of the filing, in writing, whereupon the trial court shall not be required to take any further action. It is so ordered. Per Curiam 2