Court Opinion

ID: 9772593
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:23:28.316015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:46.072129
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the Court that we are bound by the holding in Linwood v. NCNB Texas, 885 S.W.2d 102 (Tex.1994), and that a request for findings of fact and conclusions of law will not extend the running of the appellate deadline. For the reasons set out in our pre-Linwood opinion on motion to dismiss in this appeal, however, I wish to express my disagreement with the Supreme Court’s reasoning in that case. See Chavez v. Housing Authority of the City of El Paso, 876 S.W.2d *528416, 417-18 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1994, no writ). It would be more consistent and rational to treat all post-judgment pleadings seeking to assail that judgment, or seeking elaboration on it, as extending appellate deadlines. In my view, the technical questions of what legal effect a motion might have, whether “a trial” has been held, or what a pleading is most appropriately named, serve only to create technical pitfalls. These stand in stark contrast to the liberal rule, also relied upon in Linwood, that any “bona fide attempt” at perfecting appeal invokes the appellate court’s jurisdiction. If there is a sound reason for this distinction, it escapes me. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court opinion binds us. I concur.