Carrie M. Leo v. Tyler C. Thomas and Nicholas Stacey

NUMBER 13-21-00020-CV
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG
CARRIE M. LEO, Appellant,
v.
TYLER C. THOMAS AND
NICHOLAS STACEY, Appellees.
On appeal from the 444th District Court
of Cameron County, Texas.
ORDER OF ABATEMENT
Before Justices Longoria, Hinojosa, and Tijerina
Order Per Curiam
Appellant Carrie M. Leo claims that she filed an affidavit of indigence in the trial
court on December 29, 2020. Appellant filed an affidavit of indigence in this Court on
January 14, 2021. January 25, 2021, and on April 12, 2021. However, the trial court has
not made a ruling regarding whether appellant is indigent.
This sequence of events requires us to effectuate our responsibility to avoid further
delay and to preserve the parties' rights. See TEX. R. APP. P. 37.3(a)(1). Accordingly, this
appeal is abated, and the cause remanded to the trial court.
We order that pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 20.1(e), the trial
court clerk, the court reporter, or any party to this cause must challenge appellant’s claim
of indigence by filing a contest to appellant’s declaration of inability to pay costs in the
trial court within ten (10) days from the date of this order. See id. R. 20.1(e).
If a contest is timely filed, we order the trial court to conduct a hearing or sign an
order extending the time to conduct a hearing within ten days after any contest is
filed. See id. R. 20.1(i)(2)(B) (“The trial court must either conduct a hearing or sign an
order extending the time to conduct a hearing . . . within 10 days after the trial court
received a contest referred from the appellate court.”). However, the trial court may not
order the time for conducting a hearing on a contest to be extended for more than twenty
days from the date the order is signed. See id. R. 20.1(i)(3).
If a contest is timely filed, we order the trial court, within forty (40) days from the
date of this order, to prepare a written order and written findings of fact and conclusions
of law regarding its indigence determination. We further order the trial court clerk, as soon
as practicable but in no event later than sixty (60) days from the date of this order, to file
a supplemental clerk’s record, containing (1) the contest; (2) the trial court’s order; and (3)
the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court reporter is ordered to
prepare and file the reporter’s record of the trial court’s hearing as soon as practicable
but in no event later than sixty (60) days from the date of this order.
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If no contest is filed or a contest is filed untimely, we order the trial court clerk to
file a supplemental clerk’s record containing a certificate that states either no contest was
filed or a contest was filed untimely within twenty (20) days from the date of this order.
PER CURIAM
Delivered and filed on the
5th day of August, 2021.
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