Court Opinion

ID: 5142406
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2021-12-31 08:13:45.38447+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:24:36.884241
License: Public Domain

In The

                                Court of Appeals

                    Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

                               __________________

                               NO. 09-21-00359-CV
                               __________________

                      IN THE INTEREST OF K.R.K.-L. H.

__________________________________________________________________

               On Appeal from the 253rd District Court
                       Liberty County, Texas
                     Trial Cause No. CV2016063
__________________________________________________________________

                          MEMORANDUM OPINION

      On November 9, 2021, appellant L.H. filed a notice of appeal from a proposed

order of termination signed by an associate judge on October 20, 2021. Appellant

also filed a request for a de novo hearing by the referring court. On December 8,

2021, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services filed a motion to

dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the referring court has not signed

a final order. In response, L.H. concedes the termination order is interlocutory

because the referring court has not held the de novo hearing.

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      When a party timely files a request for a de novo hearing and nothing in the

record indicates that the appellant waived the right to a de novo hearing, the associate

judge’s ruling is not a final judgment. See C.A. v. Tex. Dep’t of Family & Protective

Servs., No. 03-20-00158-CV, 2020 WL 4929786, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Aug.

18, 2020, no pet.) (mem. op.). We grant the Department’s motion to dismiss and

dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).

      APPEAL DISMISSED.

                                                            PER CURIAM

Submitted on December 29, 2021
Opinion Delivered December 30, 2021

Before Golemon, C.J., Horton and Johnson, JJ.

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