Summary
The Fourteenth Court of Appeals of Texas issued an abatement order in an accelerated parental-termination appeal because the reporter’s record had not been timely filed. The court directed the trial court to conduct a hearing, make findings concerning the delay and potential contempt, file the hearing record and supplemental clerk’s record, and removed the appeal from its active docket pending reinstatement.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- What action should the appellate court take when the reporter's record in an accelerated parental-termination appeal is not timely filed?
- Whether the trial court should investigate the failure to file the reporter's record, set a date certain for its filing, and determine whether the court reporter should be held in contempt.
Holdings
- When the reporter's record is not timely filed in an accelerated parental-termination appeal, the appellate court may abate the appeal and direct the trial court to conduct a hearing addressing the failure, establish a filing deadline, and make findings concerning possible contempt by the court reporter.
Key quotations
“The appeal is abated, treated as a closed case, and removed from this court’s active docket.”
Factual background
This was an accelerated appeal involving termination of the parent-child relationship. Appellant established indigence or was presumed indigent, but the reporter's record was not filed within the required ten-day period after the notice of appeal.
Procedural history
The notice of appeal was filed on April 9, 2012, from a judgment in a parental-termination case in the 315th District Court of Harris County. The reporter's record was due within ten days but had not been filed by the court reporter. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals abated the appeal, directed the trial court to conduct a hearing, and removed the appeal from its active docket pending receipt of the hearing record and supplemental clerk's record.
Remand instructions
The judge of the 315th District Court must immediately conduct a hearing with Hipolita Lopez, appellant's counsel, and appellee's counsel to determine why the reporter's record was not filed, establish a date certain for filing it, and determine whether the court reporter should be held in contempt. The trial court must prepare a reporter's record of the hearing, make findings of fact and conclusions of law, and direct the trial clerk to forward a supplemental clerk's record to the appellate court. The hearing record and supplemental clerk's record were ordered filed by May 17, 2012. The appeal will be reinstated when the trial court's findings and recommendations are filed or upon an appropriate motion or the court's own motion.