Opinion ID: 2396093
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: Initially, we must consider E-Z Mart's challenge to our jurisdiction over the Havners' application for writ of error. Although the application was timely filed if measured from the date of the overruling of the Havners' second motion for rehearing in the court of appeals, E-Z Mart contends this second motion was improper. Because the application was not filed within forty days [1] after the overruling of the Havners' first motion, E-Z Mart asserts it is late, depriving this court of jurisdiction. See Reynolds v. Dallas County, 146 Tex. 372, 207 S.W.2d 362 (1948). In Honeycutt v. Doss, 410 S.W.2d 772, 773 (Tex.1966) (per curiam), this court, writing on the permissibility of further motions for rehearing in an effort to put the matter at rest, held that: when a court of civil appeals hands down an opinion in connection with an order overruling a motion for rehearing, rule 458 authorizes a losing party to file a further motion for rehearing as a matter of right if he deems one necessary, whether or not there is any sound or reasonable basis for his conclusion. (Emphasis supplied). This refusal to second-guess the need for a further motion for rehearing was reaffirmed in Stoner v. Massey, 586 S.W.2d 843, 845 (Tex.1979) (orig. proceeding). The applicable procedural rule, Tex.R.Civ.P. 458, as it existed at the time of these opinions provided that a further motion for rehearing could be filed whenever the court of appeals issued an opinion in connection with overruling the first motion if the losing party deems same necessary. The controversy did not end there, however, for in 1981 we amended the language permitting a further motion for rehearing if the losing party deems same necessary as follows: If on rehearing the court of appeals or any panel thereof modifies its judgment, or vacates its judgment and renders a new judgment, or hands down an opinion in connection with the overruling of a motion for rehearing, a further motion for rehearing may, if a party desires to complain of the action taken, be filed within fifteen days after such action occurs. However, in civil cases, a further motion for rehearing shall not be required or necessary as a predicate for a point in the application for writ of error if the asserted point of error was overruled by the court of appeals in a prior motion for rehearing. Tex.R.App.P. 100(d) (emphasis supplied). This amendment has led cautious practitioners to file motions for extension of time with this court seeking guidance on the permissibility of a further motion for rehearing, or even to file multiple appeals in the same action. Here, although the Havners' first motion was overruled, the court of appeals changed its opinion on rehearing. E-Z Mart asserts a further motion was not permitted because the Havner petitioners had no need to complain of the modification. In support of its position, E-Z Mart references the cover letter from the clerk of the court of appeals stating that the opinion on rehearing contained only minor nonsubstantive changes and the fact that the Havners' further motion raised points identical to those in its previously overruled motion for rehearing. See Great Atlantic Life Ins. Co. v. Harris, 723 S.W.2d 329 (Tex.App.Austin 1987, writ dism'd) (dismissal by this court for want of jurisdiction after similar argument made). Any risk of delay from parties filing further motions for rehearing is outweighed by the uncertainty injected into the appellate process by this court's review on a case-by-case basis of the permissibility of a further filing. To put the matter at rest once again, we hold that a party may file a further motion for rehearing as a matter of right if the court of appeals alters in any way its opinion or judgment in conjunction with the overruling of a prior motion for rehearing. E-Z Mart's motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction is overruled.