Erick Lawson v. Victoria Rodriguez and Concepcion Portillo Appeal from County Court of Lamb County (memorandum opinion per curiam)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo No. 07-22-00039-CV ERICK LAWSON, APPELLANT V. VICTORIA RODRIGUEZ AND CONCEPCION PORTILLO, APPELLEES On Appeal from the County Court Lamb County, Texas Trial Court No. CC-3420, Honorable James M. DeLoach, Presiding March 23, 2022 MEMORANDUM OPINION Before QUINN, C.J., and PIRTLE and PARKER, JJ. Appellant, Erick Lawson, appearing pro se, appeals from the trial court’s order granting appellees’ motion for summary judgment and dismissing Lawson’s claims. We dismiss the untimely appeal for want of jurisdiction. The trial court signed the summary judgment order on November 10, 2021. No motion for new trial or motion to modify the judgment was filed, as certified by the trial court clerk. Accordingly, Lawson’s notice of appeal was due on December 10, 2021, which was thirty days after the judgment was signed. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1(a). Lawson filed it on February 7, 2022, however. A timely notice of appeal is essential to invoking an appellate court’s jurisdiction. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.1(b), 26.1; Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 616-17 (Tex. 1997). By letter of February 9, 2022, we notified Lawson that his notice of appeal appeared untimely and directed him to file a response showing grounds for continuing the appeal or it would be dismissed for want of jurisdiction. In response, Lawson claimed that he timely filed a motion for new trial on December 5, 2021, “Plaintiff’s Motion in Objection to Court Order and Request for New Trial.” However, the copy of the motion provided by Lawson lacks any indicia suggesting the original actually was filed with or sent to the trial court clerk for filing. It contains no file-mark. Nor is the motion’s “Unsworn Declaration,” declaring under penalty of perjury that the instrument is true and correct, signed. The certificate of service also is incomplete and unsigned. Lawson also failed to accompany the purported motion with any evidence indicating it was mailed or given to authorities at the Civil Commitment Center where he resides for filing. Thus, we cannot say that Lawson illustrated that a timely motion for new trial was filed which extended the deadline by which to file a notice of appeal. For these reasons, we dismiss Lawson’s untimely appeal for want of jurisdiction. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a). Per Curiam 2
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
