Court Opinion

ID: 9767021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:06:20.376396+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:27.737407
License: Public Domain

REEVES, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The language of Rule 377(a) is clear, unambiguous and unequivocal. It says that in order to present a statement of facts on appeal, the appellant shall make a written request to the official reporter for its preparation at or before the time prescribed for perfecting the appeal. It is hard to imagine how the rule could have been more clearly written. The rule was, in fact, rewritten to make it clear and explicit. Prior to its amendment in 1984, the rule required the request to be made “promptly.” The 1984 amendments eliminated this imprecise standard and replaced it with the unequivocal specification that the request shall be made “at or before the time prescribed for perfecting the appeal.”
The trial attorney has told us in his affidavit that he failed to comply with Rule 377(a). Although he discussed the preparation of the statement of facts with the reporters and the trial judge, he neglected *259the simple expedients of asking them or checking the appellate record to determine whether a written request had in fact been filed. He chose instead to rely on assumptions based on the verbal “signals” he received from the reporters and the judge that his co-counsel made the written request to the court reporter.
The majority observes that in this case a “rigid adherence” to Rule 377(a) produces a harsh result. This is true, however, in every ease in which a party fails to follow a mandatory rule of procedure. Admittedly, Rule 377(a) is imperfect. It does not provide an opportunity to reasonably explain failure to comply with its mandate. The penalty for noncompliance in certain circumstances is too harsh. Perhaps the instant case is an illustration of such a situation. Yet it is not our function to rewrite the rules. That duty is reserved to the supreme court. TEX.REV.CIV.STAT. ANN. art. 1731a (Vernon 1962). Our duty is to apply and enforce the rules as they are written. Today, however, we have taken a simple rule, unambiguously written, and have redrafted it to conform to our own perception of propriety and fair play. I would adhere to the proper interpretation of the rule as set out in Odom. I would deny the motion for reconsideration.