Texas Court of Appeals, 15th District, 2025

Texas Department of Agriculture v. Be a Champion, Inc.; James Hong; Kevin Klotz; George Moon; And Jaron Barganier

Texas Department of Agriculture v. Be a Champion, Inc.; James Hong; Kevin Klotz; George Moon; And Jaron Barganier
Texas Court of Appeals, 15th District · Decided May 28, 2025
Texas Department of Agriculture v. Be a Champion, Inc.; James Hong; Kevin Klotz; George Moon; And Jaron Barganier

Opinion

ACCEPTED 15-25-00089-CV FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 5/28/2025 11:58 AM No. 15-25-00089-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK In the Court of Appeals for the Fifteenth Judicial District FILED IN 15th COURT OF APPEALS Austin, Texas AUSTIN, TEXAS 5/28/2025 11:58:52 AM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk Texas department of agriculture, et al., Appellants, v. be a champion, inc., james hong, kevin Klotz, George moon, and jaron barganier Appellees.

On Appeal from the 200th Judicial District Court, Travis County

APPELLANTS’ MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION

Texas Department of Agriculture, et al. (“Appellants”) seek a 23- day extension of the deadline to file their opening appellate brief in this case. Appellants’ brief is currently due on June 16, 2025. With the extension, Appellants’ brief would be due on July 9, 2025.

Appellants seek this extension as their counsel has various other deadlines coming due over the next month or so that are competing for his attention. These deadlines include:

• June 4, 2025: Filing a response to the plaintiff’s motion to substitute service in Meade v. Hurley, 4:25-cv-00093 (N.D. Tex.); • June 13, 2025: Filing an answer to the plaintiff’s third amended complaint in Salamah v. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 3:24-cv-00477 (N.D. Tex.); • June 23, 2025: Filing an appellate brief with the Fifth Circuit in Martinez v. University of Texas at Austin, 1:23-cv-01574 (W.D. Tex.); and • July 1, 2025: Filing a motion to dismiss in Heilrayne v. University of Texas at Austin, 1:25-cv-00640 (W.D. Tex).

Additionally, this case is relatively complicated, involving a plea to the jurisdiction and a response to that plea that were both over 50 pages.

Appellants need additional time to adequately brief the issues present in this case to this Court.

Thus, Appellants respectfully request that the Court extend the deadline to file their opening brief in this case to July 9, 2025. This is Appellants’ first request for an extension.

Date: May 28, 2025 Respectfully Submitted.

KEN PAXTON Attorney General of Texas BRENT WEBSTER First Assistant Attorney General RALPH MOLINA Deputy First Assistant Attorney General AUSTIN KINGHORN Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation KIMBERLY GDULA Chief, General Litigation Division /s/ Todd Dickerson TODD A. DICKERSON Attorney-in-Charge Texas Bar No. 24118368 [email protected] Assistant Attorney General Office of the Attorney General P.O. Box 12548-Capitol Station Austin, Texas 78711-2548 (512) 463-2120 FAX: (512) 320-0667 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS- APPELLANTS

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on May 28, 2025, this document was served via CM/ECF on Plaintiffs-Appellees and transmitted to the Clerk of the Court.

/s/ Todd Dickerson

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE On May 28, 2025, I conferred by email with Appellees’ counsel (Kevin Terrazas and Benjamin Dower) about the subject of this motion.

Appellees’ counsel advised that they were unopposed to the instant request.

/s/ Todd Dickerson

Automated Certificate of eService This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system.

The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Todd Dickerson on behalf of Todd Dickerson Bar No. 24118368 [email protected] Envelope ID: 101326622 Filing Code Description: Motion Filing Description: Appellants Motion for Extension to File Status as of 5/28/2025 12:12 PM CST Associated Case Party: Be a Champion, Inc. Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status Kevin Terrazas 24060708 [email protected] 5/28/2025 11:58:52 AM SENT Benjamin Dower 24082931 [email protected] 5/28/2025 11:58:52 AM SENT Jennifer Foster 24104938 [email protected] 5/28/2025 11:58:52 AM SENT

Associated Case Party: Texas Department of Agriculture Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status Todd Dickerson [email protected] 5/28/2025 11:58:52 AM SENT Chelsea Goodman [email protected] 5/28/2025 11:58:52 AM SENT

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.