Court Opinion

ID: 9385836
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-10 08:09:04.147845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:45.031397
License: Public Domain

In the
        Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
         at Fort Worth
     ___________________________
          No. 02-23-00076-CV
     ___________________________

        FRED SAMIEI, Appellant

                    V.

 AMERICAN FURUKAWA, INC., Appellee

 On Appeal from County Court at Law No. 2
          Denton County, Texas
     Trial Court No. CV-2022-02389

  Before Bassel, Womack, and Wallach, JJ.
    Per Curiam Memorandum Opinion
                           MEMORANDUM OPINION

      On March 13, 2023, we sent Appellant Fred Samiei1 a letter, which stated the

following:

      The court has received a copy of the “Affidavit” in this case, which
      appears to express appellant’s desire to appeal. See Tex. R. App. P.
      25.1(e). The court is concerned that it may not have jurisdiction over
      this appeal because the notice of appeal was not timely filed. Tex. R.
      App. P. 26.1. The authenticated copy of the foreign judgment was filed
      in the trial court clerk’s office on July 27, 2022, so the notice of appeal
      was due August 26, 2022, but was not filed until March 9, 2023.

             Unless the appellant or any party desiring to continue the appeal
      files with the court, on or before Thursday, March 23, 2023, a
      response showing grounds for continuing the appeal, this appeal may be
      dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 44.3.

      We received a timely response, but it does not show grounds for continuing the

appeal.

      The time for filing a notice of appeal is jurisdictional in this court, and absent a

timely filed notice of appeal or extension request, we must dismiss the appeal. See

Tex. R. App. P. 2, 25.1(b), 26.3; Jones v. City of Houston, 976 S.W.2d 676, 677 (Tex.

      1
        The judgment appealed from was entered against Ipex Import LLC—not
Samiei. We have listed Samiei as appellant because his affidavit states, “I am writing
this appeal in regards to the default judgment entered against me in the case of
American Furukawa, Inc. vs. Ipex Import LLC.” Despite appearing pro se, it appears
that he is attempting to initiate an appeal on behalf of Ipex Import LLC, though he
notes that the entity “is no longer in business, and therefore the judgment against
[him] is of no practical use.” Due to jurisdictional issues, the effect of the judgment is
not before us. We note, however, that “[a] company that is a separate legal entity
generally may not appear in court through a member who is not an attorney.” JW
Constr. v. Queen Shiva, LLC, No. 02-21-00019-CV, 2021 WL 832717, at *1 (Tex.
App.—Fort Worth Mar. 4, 2021, no pet.) (mem. op.).

                                            2
1998); Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997). Because the notice of

appeal was untimely, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App.

P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).

                                                    Per Curiam

Delivered: April 6, 2023

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