Unreasonable Explanation

Deadlines in the Texas appellate courts can often be forgiving, with extensions of time routinely and even retroactively granted. A new memorandum opinion illustrates one of the limits to those generally flexible deadlines. James Polk’s notice of appeal was due on November 4, but it was not actually filed until November 18. That was within the 15-day permitted for an extension of time to file the notice of appeal, so the Court of Appeals directed the appellant to file a motion under Rule 26.3 that set forth a reasonable explanation of the need for the extension. When that motion was filed, however, it explained that the original deadline had been missed due to Polk’s need to determine whether to appeal at all, including whether it made economic sense to do so. Because that response showed that Polk had consciously ignored the November 4 deadline, rather than missing it inadvertently, the Court of Appeals denied the extension and dismissed the appeal.

Polk v. Dallas County, No. 05-13-01731-CV