Mercon De Nuevo Laredo, S.A., DE C.B. and Marcos Alejandro v. Toyota Lift of South Texas

MEMORANDUM OPINION

No. 04-10-00929-CV

MERCON DE NUEVO LAREDO, S.A., DE C.B. and Marcos Alejandro, Appellants v.

TOYOTA LIFT OF SOUTH TEXAS,

Appellee

From the County Court At Law No 1, Webb County, Texas Trial Court No. 2009-CVQ-001807-CI

Honorable Alvino (Ben) Morales, Judge Presiding PER CURIAM

Sitting: Rebecca Simmons, Justice

Steven C. Hilbig, Justice

Marialyn Barnard, Justice

Delivered and Filed: January 26, 2011

DISMISSED FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION

The trial court signed a final judgment on August 4, 2010. Appellants filed a timely motion for new trial on September 3, 2010. Therefore, the notice of appeal was due to be filed on November 2, 2010. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1(a). A motion for extension of time to file the notice of appeal was due on November 17, 2010. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3. Appellants filed a notice of appeal on January 3, 2011, and a motion for extension of time to file the notice of appeal on December 30, 2010. It thus appears that neither document was filed within the time allowed for filing a motion for extension of time to file the notice of appeal.

A motion for extension of time is necessarily implied when an appellant, acting in good faith, files a notice of appeal beyond the time allowed by Rule 26.1 but within the fifteen-day grace period provided by Rule 26.3 for filing a motion for extension of time. See Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997) (construing the predecessor to Rule 26). But “once the period for granting a motion for extension of time under Rule [26.3] has passed, a party can no longer invoke the appellate court’s jurisdiction.” Id. Accordingly, appellants’ motion and this appeal are dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

PER CURIAM