Lettie Michele Ferguson v. Ashley Self

In the Court of Appeals

Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________

No. 02-21-00279-CV ___________________________

LETTIE MICHELE FERGUSON, Appellant

V. ASHLEY SELF, Appellee

On Appeal from County Court at Law No. 2

Wise County, Texas Trial Court No. CV-8632

Before Birdwell, Bassel, and Womack, JJ.

Per Curiam Memorandum Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION Appellant Lettie Michele Ferguson appealed an order declaring that she was able to pay court costs and an appeal bond in her eviction case. 1

“As a general rule, appeals may be taken only from final judgments.” Sabre Travel Int’l, Ltd. v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, 567 S.W.3d 725, 730 (Tex. 2019). “Unless a statute authorizes an interlocutory appeal, appellate courts generally only have jurisdiction over final judgments.” CMH Homes v. Perez, 340 S.W.3d 444, 447 (Tex. 2011).

We notified Ferguson of our concern that we lack jurisdiction because the order being appealed was not a final judgment, see Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001), or an appealable interlocutory order, see generally Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(a), and because the rules applicable to eviction suits did not otherwise provide a mechanism for appeal of such an order. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 500.3(e), 510.9; Redlich v. Ranch, No. 02-14-00390-CV, 2015 WL 226038, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Jan. 15, 2015, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op.); see also Brown v. Hawkins, No. 05- 16-01427-CV, 2018 WL 1312467, at *4 (Tex. App.––Dallas Mar. 14, 2018, no pet.) (mem. op.). We warned that we could dismiss the appeal absent a response showing grounds for continuing the appeal. We received a response, but it did not show grounds for continuing the appeal.2

We therefore dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).

Per Curiam Delivered: October 14, 2021