Jack Hayes v. Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services--Appeal from 65th District Court of El Paso County

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COURT OF APPEALS

EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

EL PASO, TEXAS

 
JACK HAYES,

Appellant,

 

v.

 

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PROTECTIVE AND REGULATORY SERVICES,

 

Appellee.

 

 

 

 

No. 08-03-00074-CV

 

Appeal from the

 

65th Judicial District Court

 

of El Paso County, Texas

 

(TC# 2001CM6338)

 
M E M O R A N D U M O P I N I O N

This appeal is before the Court on its own motion, for determination of whether it should be dismissed for want of prosecution. Finding that no Appellant's brief has been filed, we dismiss the appeal.

FACTS

This appeal is from a judgment signed January 15, 2003. The clerk's record was filed on February 13, 2003. On March 18, 2003, this Court granted the trial court's request for an extension of time to conduct a hearing to determine if Appellant was indigent. The trial court held a hearing on March 24, 2003, at which Appellant failed to appear. Appellee did appear and contested Appellant's indigency. Because he failed to appear, the trial court found there was no evidence to support a claim of indigency and that Appellant was not entitled to Court-appointed counsel.

Because this is an accelerated appeal, Appellant's brief was due April 17, 2003. No brief has been received in this Court, nor has a motion for extension of time to file Appellant's brief been received. On April 23, 2003, pursuant to Tex. R. App. P. 42.3 and 38.8, this Court's clerk sent the parties a notice of the Court's intent to dismiss for want of prosecution if, within ten days of the notice, no party responded showing grounds to continue the appeal. No response has been received as of this date.

Appellant's Failure to File Brief

This Court possesses the authority to dismiss an appeal for want of prosecution when Appellant has failed to file his brief in the time prescribed, and gives no reasonable explanation for such failure. See Tex. R. App. P. 38.8; Celotex Corp. Inc. v. Gracy Meadow Owners Assoc., Inc., 847 S.W.2d 384, 385 n.1 (Tex. App.--Austin 1993, writ denied). We have given notice of our intent to do so, requested a response if a reasonable basis for failure to file the brief or statement of facts exists, and have received none. We see no purpose that would be served by declining to dismiss this appeal at this stage of the proceedings. Pursuant to Tex. R. App. P. 38.8 and 42.3(b), we dismiss the appeal for want of prosecution.

May 22, 2003

 

RICHARD BARAJAS, Chief Justice

 

Before Panel No. 4

Barajas, C.J., Larsen and McClure, JJ.