John E. Rodarte v. Beneficial Texas, Inc., 482 S.W.3d 246

Appellant John E. Rodarte Sr., an indigent inmate acting pro se, filed a notice of appeal from Bexar County on October 19, 2015.
Because he is an inmate claiming inability to pay costs, the court ordered him to file a separate affidavit listing prior pro se actions and a certified inmate trust account statement per Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 14.004.
The court’s October 23, 2015 order specified the affidavit must include operative facts, case names/courts, party identities, and dispositions, and warned failure to comply could lead to dismissal.
On November 6, 2015 Rodarte filed an appellate brief listing some cause numbers but did not submit the required separate affidavit with the statutory details or the certified account statement.
Rodarte asked the court to waive the statutory requirements and directed the clerk to obtain verification from various courts instead of providing the detailed affidavit himself.
The court concluded Rodarte knowingly failed to comply with the statutory affidavit requirement, denied his motion to waive it, deemed the appeal frivolous, and dismissed the appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether an inmate appellant must file the Chapter 14 affidavit of previous filings and certified account statement to proceed as indigent	Rodarte asked the court to waive the affidavit requirement and have the clerk verify prior filings	Beneficial (court) asserted statutory requirements are mandatory and Rodarte must provide the affidavit and account statement	The court held the Chapter 14 affidavit and account statement are mandatory; Rodarte’s request to waive was denied
Whether failure to provide the required affidavit supports dismissal of the appeal	Rodarte argued listed cause numbers in his brief sufficed	Court relied on precedent that incomplete affidavits permit dismissal	Court dismissed the appeal for failure to file the required affidavit

Douglas v. Moffett, 418 S.W.3d 336 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2013) (affirming dismissal where inmate failed to comply with Chapter 14 requirements)
Amir-Sharif v. Mason, 243 S.W.3d 854 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2008) (holding failure to file the required affidavit is grounds to dismiss without notice)
Bell v. Texas Dep’t of Criminal Justice–Institutional Div., 962 S.W.2d 156 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998) (when inmate does not provide a complete affidavit, court may assume action is substantially similar and frivolous)
Kennedy v. Staples, 336 S.W.3d 745 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2011) (discussing litigants’ access to judicial resources and the burden placed on litigants to provide required documentation)