Court Opinion

ID: 9365807
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-25 07:11:07.275461+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:47.708006
License: Public Domain

Order entered January 19, 2023

                                       In The
                              Court of Appeals
                       Fifth District of Texas at Dallas

                               No. 05-22-01286-CV

                    JAYSON HOWARD MOORE, Appellant

                                         V.

            DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC., ET AL., Appellees

                On Appeal from the 44th Judicial District Court
                            Dallas County, Texas
                     Trial Court Cause No. DC-21-06923

                                      ORDER

      Appellant appeals from the trial court’s September 28, 2022 judgment. On

November 29, 2022, appellant filed with the trial court a motion to determine the

date he obtained actual knowledge of the judgment. The motion was in essence a

motion to obtain more time filed pursuant to rule 306a(4), (5) of the Texas Rules of

Civil Procedure and was titled “Plaintiff’s Request for Finding Actual Knowledge

of Judgment Under Rule 4.2(c) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure.” See

TEX. R. CIV. P. 306a(4), (5). Rule 4.2(c) requires a trial court, following a hearing,
to sign a written order that finds the date when the party or the party’s attorney first

either received notice or acquired actual knowledge that the judgment was signed.

See TEX. R. APP. P. 4.2(c). The record before this Court does not reflect the trial

court has determined the motion.

      Without the requisite date finding by the trial court, we are unable to

determine the timeliness of the appeal. Accordingly, we ORDER the trial court to

conduct a hearing, WITHIN TWENTY DAYS of the date of this order, on

appellant’s November 29, 2022 motion and sign an order finding the date when

appellant, who is pro se, first either received notice or acquired actual knowledge

that the judgment was signed. See id.

      We ORDER Dallas County District Clerk Felicia Pitre to file, WITHIN

TWENTY-FIVE DAYS of the date of this order, a supplemental clerk’s record

with the trial court’s order. We ORDER Crystal Brown, Official Court Reporter

for the 44th Judicial District Court, to file, WITHIN THIRTY DAYS of the date

of this order, the reporter’s record of the ordered hearing.

      We DIRECT the Clerk of this Court to send a copy of this order to the

Honorable Veretta Frazier, Presiding Judge of the 44th Judicial District Court; Ms.

Pitre; Ms. Brown; and, all parties.
      We ABATE the appeal to allow the trial court an opportunity to comply

with this order. The appeal will be reinstated in thirty days or when the requested

supplemental clerk’s record is filed, whichever occurs sooner.

                                             /s/   ROBERT D. BURNS, III
                                                   CHIEF JUSTICE