Opinion ID: 1353943
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: What the Ten-Day Statutory Period Requires

Text: In both Spears and Walker, this Court recognized that an applicant loses his right to an appeal in the district court if the district court does not try the appeal and render judgment within the ten-day statutory period. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 292; see also Walker, 529 S.W.2d at 762-63. In these original proceedings, the Court only considered whether mandamus should issue to preclude the district court from taking any further action after the ten-day period expired. In Spears, the Alcoholic Beverage Commission ordered a five-day suspension of an alcohol license. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 290. The licensee appealed to the district court under section 11.67(b)'s predecessor, article 666-15e, section 7a. Though the statute required a trial within ten days, the district court did not set the case for trial until one month later. At that time, the licensee moved for a continuance, and the parties agreed to try the case another month later. On the trial date, the licensee urged two motions, one for a continuance and the other to compel the Commission to disclose certain information. The district court granted both motions but stayed the disclosure order pending the Commission's seeking mandamus relief from these rulings. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 291. On mandamus review, the Commission argued that the district court lost jurisdiction to enter any orders, because the ten-day period for a trial on appeal had passed. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 291. In discussing the legislative history of article 666-15e, this Court noted that the statute's earliest version required only that an appeal be tried within ten days or at the earliest possible time thereafter in the event the Judge is not able to try such cause within such ten (10) day period. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 291 n. 2 (citations and emphasis omitted). But, in 1937, the Legislature amended the provision and struck the language permitting a judge to extend the trial beyond that ten-day period. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 291; see Act of May 22, 1937, 45th Leg., R.S., ch. 448, art. I, § 15, 1937 Tex. Gen. Laws 1053, 1066. And, when the Legislature added article 666-15e to the Liquor Control Act in 1967, it declared that the statutory terms, including the ten-day trial rule, shall be considered literally. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 291; see Act of May 25, 1961, 57th Leg., R.S., ch. 262, § 1, 1961 Tex. Gen. Laws 559, 561. Because of the Legislature's repeated attempts to limit the time in which the district court could try the appeal, we concluded that the time for an appeal endured for ten days and that there [was] no authority to extend that time. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 291. Applying this conclusion to the facts, we determined that the licensee's right to an appeal in the district court expired ten days after the appeal was filed. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 292. Moreover, we determined that any orders issued after the ten-day period, such as the district court's continuance and discovery rulings, were void. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 292. We then determined that the Commission's suspension order became the final and enforceable decision. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 292. Based on these conclusions, we held that mandamus relief would be immaterial and thus denied the petition. Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 292. In Cook v. Walker , the Court reached the same legal conclusion but ordered a different result. See Walker, 529 S.W.2d at 762-63. In Walker, the licensee appealed an administrative order canceling his licenses. The district court stayed the suspension order pending the trial and set that trial for over a month later. Walker, 529 S.W.2d at 762. The Court held that Spears governed, and therefore, the licensee lost his right to an appeal in the district court ten days after he filed the appeal. However, rather than denying mandamus relief as in Spears, the Walker Court issued mandamus relief and ordered the district court to set aside its order staying the Commission's decision and to proceed to judgment approving the Commission's order. Walker, 529 S.W.2d at 763. Here, Garza contends that Spears and Walker do not apply because the district court actually heard the appeal within the ten-day period, and therefore, the district court's out-of-time judgment has full force and effect. To support his position that the district court's judgment rendered after the ten-day period is not void, Garza relies on Fox v. Medina, 848 S.W.2d 866 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1993, no writ). In Fox, the district court tried the applicant's appeal and orally rendered judgment in open court within the ten-day period. However, the district court did not sign a judgment until the statutory period expired. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 870. The court of appeals did not require the appellant to obtain a signed judgment within the ten days and, instead, held that the district court need only hear the appeal and make a decision within the ten days. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 870. If this occurs, the court of appeals further held, the district court can sign a judgment reflecting that decision after the statutory time period expires. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 870. The court of appeals explained that this approach precludes parties from automatically losing the district court appeal based on a deemed affirmance of the administrative decision and from losing their further appellate rights. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 871 n. 3. I disagree with Garza's contention, and Fox's conclusion, that section 11.67 allows a district court to sign a written judgment after the ten days pass to memorialize a decision that court made within the ten-day period. Accepting this position would enable the district court to disregard the statute's time limitations and indefinitely delay the case's finality for further appeal purposes. Furthermore, this result entirely contradicts our prior holding that the district court lacks jurisdiction to take any action after the ten-day period expires. See Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 292. Moreover, it runs afoul of the Legislature's express determination to limit the district court proceedings, which we have construed literally (as the Legislature requires) to mean the district court's power to act, to ten days. See Tex. Alco. Bev.Code § 11.67(b); Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 291. Consistent with our jurisprudence, I conclude that section 11.67(b) limits the district court's jurisdiction to hear the case, render judgment, and sign a written judgment for purposes of further appeal, to ten days from the date the appeal is filed. This means the district court lacks jurisdiction to render a judgment, sign a written judgment, or otherwise entertain or rule on any motions after that ten-day period expires. Consequently, any orders the district court enters after the ten-day period expires are void. Moreover, the administrative decision is deemed affirmed by operation of law once the ten-day period expires. See Walker, 529 S.W.2d at 762; Spears, 524 S.W.2d at 292. My conclusion that the district court here lacked jurisdiction to render the out-of-time judgment reaffirms Spears. However, it conflicts with Walker to the extent that, in that case, the Court issued mandamus relief to require the district court to proceed to judgment approving the order of the Commission. See Walker, 529 S.W.2d at 763. This is because, under the legal principles announced in Spears and recognized in Walker, the district court does not have jurisdiction to make any rulingsincluding rendering judgment or signing a written judgment merely approving the administrative decisionafter the ten-day time period expires. Accordingly, I would disapprove of Walker and the cases that presume a district court has power to render judgment, ministerially sign a written judgment, grant a new trial, or vacate, modify or reform a judgment after the ten-day trial period expires. See Texas Alco. Beverage Com'n v. Top of the Strip, Inc., 993 S.W.2d 242, 248 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1999, pet. denied); El-Kareh v. Texas Alco. Beverage Com'n, 874 S.W.2d 192, 196 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, no writ); Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 870-71. Here, the district court tried the appeal and took the matter under advisement within the ten-day period. But it rendered and signed its written judgment outside the statutory time period. Thus, the court of appeals correctly concluded that, because the district court lost jurisdiction to enter any orders after ten days, the district court's judgment is void.