NUMBER 13-23-00174-CV COURT OF APPEALS THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

GLENN STEED, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS HEIR OF JANET K. STEED, Appellant, v. WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT INDIVIDUALLY, BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR NATIONSTAR HE ACQUISITION TRUST 2020-1 AND CHAMPION MORTGAGE COMPANY, Appellee.

On appeal from the 148th District Court of Nueces County, Texas.

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Benavides and Longoria Memorandum Opinion by Justice Longoria This matter is before the Court on appellant’s motion to allow appeal of a wrongful foreclosure past the deadline to appeal, which the Court construes as a motion for extension of time to file a notice of appeal. The matter is also before the Court on appellee’s motion to dismiss.

We now dismiss the matter for want of jurisdiction. On April 11, 2022, the trial court entered an agreed judgment in this matter. Appellant filed a notice of appeal with the trial court on May 8, 2023. On May 9, 2023, the Clerk of this Court notified appellant that it appeared that the appeal was not timely perfected. Appellant was advised that the appeal would be dismissed if the defect was not corrected within ten days from the date of receipt of the Court’s directive.

Appellant’s motion for extension of time to file a notice of appeal was filed more than fifteen days after the deadline for filing the notice of appeal and was untimely. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3. We are to construe the rules of appellate procedure reasonably and liberally so that the right to appeal is not lost by imposing requirements not absolutely necessary to effectuate the purpose of a rule. See Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 616-17 (Tex. 1997). Nevertheless, we are prohibited from enlarging the scope of our jurisdiction by enlarging the time for perfecting an appeal in a civil case in a manner not provided for by rule. See Tex. R. App. P. 2; In re T.W., 89 S.W.3d 641, 642 (Tex. App.– Amarillo 2002, no pet.).

Appellant’s notice of appeal was untimely, by nearly a year, and appellant’s motion for extension of time to file the notice of appeal was also untimely; therefore, we lack

jurisdiction over the appeal. Accordingly, we dismiss both motions and the entire cause for want of jurisdiction.

NORA L. LONGORIA Justice Delivered and filed on the 6th day of July, 2023.