1 

### No. 01

- 15

- 00174

- CV

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT OF TEXAS



### TIM WOOTERS , Appellant ,

vs. 

### UNITECH INTERNATIONA L, INC. , Appellee

.

A ppeal from the 55 th District Court of Harris County, Texas Docket No. 2012

- 10494



### UNO PPOSED MOTION FOR EX TENSION OF TIME TO F ILE APPELLANT’S BRIEF

TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THIS COURT: Appellant, Tim Wooters, respectfully requests that the Court grant
him a 45

- day extension of time, to and including October 6, 2015 , for him to
file h is Appellant’s Brief. In support, Wooters respectfully shows:
Procedural History
1. This appeal was perfected February 20, 2015. The Clerk’s Re cord was filed May 8, 2015 . Volumes 1

– 16 of the Reporter’s Record were in iACCEPTED 01-15-00174-cv FIRST COURT OF APPEALS

HOUSTON, TEXAS 8/18/2015 3:27:24 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE

CLERK2 tially filed Ju ly 15, 2015 . Subsequently, the Court Reporter refiled Volumes
11

– 16 on July 23, 2015 . Based upon notice dated July 23, 2015 , the Appe llant’s Brief is due Monday, August 24, 2015

. 2. Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record contains exhibi ts that were sealed by order of the trial court on November 17, 2014 . The undersigned counsel, which did not participate in any proceedings in the trial court pr ior to the perfection of the appeal, were informed by the Clerk that they could only have acces s to the sealed exhibits by seeking an order from the trial court and having a copy of such order filed as part of a Supplemental
Clerk’s Record.
3. On August 3, 2015, Wooters filed Tim Wooter’s Motion to Modify Order Sealing Court Records . The Appellee filed a response in opposition on August 14, 2015, and after a hearing on August 17, 2015, the trial court granted the undersigned counsel the ability to view the sealed exhibits in
the Clerk’s office.
4. On Au gust 18, 2015, Wooters requested that the clerk of the tr ial court to prepare a Supplemental Clerk’s Record.
5. Wooters has not previously sought an extension of time to file his Appellant’s Brief.3 Grounds for Granting an Extension of Time
6. The Court should grant an extension of time upon the showing of any reasonable explanation

. S ee National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Ninth Court of Appeals , 864 S.W.2d 58, 60 (Tex. 1993) (any demonstration of the need for
addition al time, short of deliberate or intentional nonco m pliance, qualifies as a reasonable explanation)

. 7. The undersigned counsel would not be doing their due dil igence in representing Wooters in this appeal if they did not review the e ntire appellate record prior to submitting a brief on the merits. This is esp ecially true in this case where the Court may be asked to review the legal and/or factual sufficiency of the evidence supporting part of the jury’s verdict. At this point, the u n d ersigned counsel has, at best, only a general description of the sealed e x hibits as provided on the parties’ exhibit lists.
8. Until the Supplemental Clerk’s Record containing the trial

court ’ s order of August 17 is filed, the u n dersigned counsel will not be able to examine the s ealed exhibits in Vo l ume 16 of the Reporter’s Record. Based upon past e x perience with the Ha r ris County District Clerk’s Office, it usually takes 30 days to process r e quests for Clerk’s Records, no matter the volume of the documents r e quested.4 9. Accordingly, a 45 day extension of time is likely the min imum time necessary for Wooters ’ counsel to complete a rev iew of the entire re cord and to file Wooters ’ principal brief.
Agreement of Opposing Counsel
10. The undersigned attorney has conferred with opposing cou nsel , Lesl ie Hillendahl, regarding this Motion

. She is not opposed to a 45 day extension of time as requested herein. WHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons, the Appellant , Tim Woo ters , request s that the Court extend the deadline for him to file his Appe llant’s Brief to October 5, 2015 , as well as such other relief which is appr opriate. Respectfully Submitted, Pendergraft & Simon, LLP 2777 Allen Parkway, Suite 800 Houston, TX 77019 Tel. 713

- 528

- 8555 Fax. 713

- 868

- 1267 /s/ 

## William P. Haddock William P. Haddock Texas Bar No. 00793875 wha d dock@pendergraftsimon.com Robert L. Pendergraft Texas Bar No. 15743500 rlp@pendergraftsimon.com Counsel for Tim Wooters5 Certificate of Service I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing Unopposed Motion for Extensio n of Time has been served on the foll owing cou nsel/parties of record via e - service or facsimile transmission , if e

- service is unavailable, in accordance with the T EX

. R. A PP

. P. 9.5 and local rules for electronic filing on this 1 8 th day of August 2015 : Bri an W. Zimmerman Leslie K. Hillendahl Zimmerman, Axelrad, Meyer, Stern & Wise, P.C. 3040 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 1300 Houston, TX 77056 Fax. 713

- 212

- 2750 /s/ 

## William P. Haddock William P. Haddock