## COURT OF APPEALS SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS FORT WORTH NO. 02 - 11 - 00495 - CV

TEDRICKE GARDNER APPELLANT V. TARRANT COUNTY CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION A ND TARRANT COUNTY, TEXA S APPELLEES

---------- FROM THE 141ST DISTRICT COURT OF TARRANT COUNTY

-- -------- 

### MEMORANDUM OPINION 1

---------- I. Introduction In one issue, Appellant Tedricke Gardner appeals pro se the trial court’s summary judgment for Appellees Tarrant County Civil Service Commission and Tar r ant Count y , Texas ( collectively Tarrant ) and the t rial court’s decision to deny his motion for new trial. We affirm.

1 See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.2 II. Factual and Procedural Background This is the parties’ third appearance before this court. See Gardner v. Tarrant Cnty. Civil Serv. Comm’n (Gardner I) , No. 0 2

- 04

- 00 130

- CV, 2005 WL 32415 , at *1 (Tex. App.

— Fort Worth Jan

. 6, 2005, no pet.) (mem. op.); see also Gardner v. Tarrant Cnty. Civil Serv. Comm’n (Gardner II) , No. 0 2

- 06

- 00 164

- CV, 2007 WL 1018657 , at *1 (Tex. App.

— Fort Worth Apr

. 5, 2007, no pet.) (mem. op.). In October 2000, Gardner , employed as a probation officer with Tarrant County Juvenile Services (TCJS) , took a three

- week leave of absence. 2 See Gardner I , 2005 WL 32415 , at *1. During his leave, TCJS sent Gardner two letters. Id

. The first time that the parties appeared here , we held that because the letters’ language was clear and unambiguous in outlining TCJS’s position that it considered Gardner to have abandoned his job , it was Gardner ’s responsibility to file a grievance contesting TCJS’s posit ion within seven days of rece iving the second letter

. See id. at * 3

. We affirmed the trial court’s judgment that substantial evidence exist ed to show that the grievance was not timely filed

. 3 Id

. In Gardner II , we dismissed Gardner’s appeal for want of jurisdiction because the summ ary judgment granted on most of Gardner’s claims was

2 Gardner claimed that the leave was authorized; TCJS claimed that it was not. See Gardner I , 2005 WL 32415, at *1 n.2.

3 Gardner I presents a c omplete factual background of the case. See 2005 WL 32415 , at *1

– 2

.3

interlocutory rather than final

. 4 2007 WL 1018657 , at * 1 , 3

. Tarrant subsequently filed a combined motion for summary judgment and p lea to the j urisdiction on Gardner’s remaining claims

. Th e trial cou rt signed an o rder g ranting the motion and a n order granting the plea

. Gardner then filed a motion for new trial or for rehearing, which was overruled by operation of law. T his third appeal followed. III. Inadequate Briefing In Gardner’s appellate brief and reply brief in this court, he states his single issue as, “The district court erred in granting appellees’ motion for summary judgment, and denying appellant’s motion for new trial or to modify order.” At the eleventh hour, a fter this case was submitted, Gardner filed a supplemental brief in which he added a complaint about the trial court’s decision to grant the plea to the jurisdiction. A brief is required to “contain a clear and concise argument for the contentions made, with appropriate citations to au thorities and to the record , ” but Gardner’s briefs do not present a cogent discussion or citation s to authority regarding how the trial court’s ruling s on Tarrant’s assertion of immunity or the absence of waiver of immunity or on Tarrant’s summary judgment grounds are incorrect or how the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion for

4 In its first motion for summary judgment, Tarrant sought summary judgment on Gardner’s federal and state constitutional claims. Gardner added a claim for breach of contract before the t rial court granted summary judgment for Tarrant on Gardner’s federal and state constitutional claims, making that summary judgment interlocutory. See Gardner II , 2007 WL 1018657, at *1.4

new trial. See Tex. R. App. P. 38.1(i) ; Tello v. Bank One, N.A. , 218 S.W.3d 109, 116 (Tex. App.

— Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, no pet.) ( “ [W] e know of no authority

o bligating us to become advocates for a particular litigant through performing their research and developing their argument for them.” ) (internal quotation omitted); see also Fredonia State Bank v. Gen. Am. Life Ins. Co. , 881 S.W.2d 279, 284

– 85 (Tex. 1994) (discussing the “long

- standing rule ” that point may be waiv ed due to inadequate briefing). Therefore, w e overrule Gardner’s sole issue as inadequately briefed. 5
IV. Conclusion Having overruled Gardner’s sole issue, we aff irm the trial court’s judgment.

PER CURIAM PANEL: MCCOY, J

. ; LIVINGSTON, C.J.; and MEIER, J. DELIVERED: July 19, 2012

5 We would further note that an issue raised for the first time in a m otion for rehearing or in a post

- submission brief is not preserved for appellate review. Coastal Liquids Transp., L.P. v. Harris Cnty. Appraisal Dist. , 46 S.W.3d 880, 885 (Tex. 2001); Romero v. State , 927 S.W.2d 632, 634 n.2 (Tex. 1996).