Patricia Monardes v. City of El Paso and Carlos Rosas--Appeal from 384th District Court of El Paso County

COURT OF APPEALS

EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

EL PASO, TEXAS

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PATRICIA MONARDES, ) No. 08-06-00057-CV

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Appellant, ) Appeal from

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v. ) 384th District Court

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CITY OF EL PASO and ) of El Paso County, Texas

CARLOS ROSAS, )

) (TC# 2002TX455)

Appellees. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant, Patricia Monardes, filed a notice of appeal from the trial court s judgment, but did not pay the $125 filing fee required for the appeal or submit an affidavit of indigence before or at the time she filed this notice of appeal. See Tex.R.App.P. 5, 20.1; see also Tex.Gov t Code Ann. 51.207, 51.941(a), 101.041 (Vernon 2005). By letters dated March 21, 2006, April 18, 2006, and April 28, 2006, the Clerk of this Court notified Appellant that the filing fee had not been paid and that failure to pay the filing fee may result in dismissal of the cause pursuant to Tex.R.App.P. 42.3(b), (c) for want of prosecution or for failure to comply with the Rules of Appellate Procedure or with a clerk s notice requiring a response or other action within a specific time. The Clerk also notified Appellant that the appeal was subject to dismissal because a brief and motion for extension of time had not been filed by their due dates. Appellant has not filed a response to any of the notices from the Clerk, has not paid the filing fee, and has not filed her brief or a motion for extension of time.

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. Tex.R.App.P. 38.8(a)(1); Elizondo v. City of San Antonio, 975 S.W.2d 61, 63 (Tex.App.--San Antonio 1998, no writ). Additionally, we have the authority to dismiss an appeal for failure to pay the required filing fee. See Tex.R.App.P. 5. We have given notice of our intent to do so, requested a response if a reasonable basis for failure to file the brief or pay the filing fee 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. We therefore dismiss the appeal for want of prosecution. See Tex.R.App.P. 5, 38.8(a)(1), 42.3(b), and 42.3(c).

August 31, 2006

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice

Before Barajas, C.J., McClure, and Chew, JJ.