Case Information
*1 C OURT OF A PPEALS FOR THE
F IRST D ISTRICT OF T EXAS AT H OUSTON O RDER
Appellate case name: In the Interest of K.L.W., a Child
Appellate case number: 01-18-00485-CV
Trial court case number: 2017-02559J
Trial court: 314th District Court of Harris County
On December 5, 2018, the Court affirmed the trial court’s final decree for termination in a suit brought by the Department of Family and Protective Services, terminating the parental rights of appellants, R.D.W., father, and B.B.C., mother. The Court’s judgment also issued December 5, 2018. Appellants filed a motion for rehearing and motion for en banc reconsideration of the Court’s December 5, 2018 opinion, both of which were denied on December 20, 2018.
Intermediate appellate courts, such as this Court, retain plenary power over an appeal for a period of: (1) sixty days after its judgment is entered if no timely filed motion for rehearing or motion for en banc reconsideration is filed, or (2) thirty days after the appellate court overrules all timely filed motions for rehearing or motions for en banc reconsideration. See T EX . R. A PP . P. 19.1. Generally, once an intermediate appellate court’s plenary power expires, it lacks jurisdiction to take any action in an appeal. See Nunu v. Risk , 612 S.W.3d 645, 655 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2020, pet. denied) (dismissing appeal for lack of jurisdiction where plenary power of intermediate appellate court expired).
Once an intermediate appellate court’s plenary power expires, the appellate court’s jurisdiction is limited to only those actions as prescribed in rule 19.3 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. See T EX . R. A PP . P. 19.3. As noted above, the Court issued the judgment in this appeal on December 5, 2018 and appellants’ motion for rehearing and motion for en banc reconsideration were denied by the Court on December 20, 2018. Accordingly, the Court’s plenary power over this appeal expired on January 22, 2019. See T EX . R. A PP . P. 19.1(b).
As analyzed above, and as R.D.W. has been advised in at least two previous orders of this Court, including our March 12, 2019 order on his “Plea to the Jurisdiction” and “Motion to Withdraw Judgment and Dismiss Appeal for Want of Jurisdiction,” and our *2 March 3, 2022 order on motions filed by R.D.W. in February 2022, this Court’s plenary power expired on January 22, 2019. After the Court’s plenary power expires, this Court has no jurisdiction, and lacks any authority, to take any action on a case unless expressly authorized by the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. See T EX . R. A PP . P. 19.3(a)-(d). Notably, none of the permitted post-plenary power bases set forth in rule 19.3 apply here.
Despite these notices, on March 3, 2022, appellant submitted to the Clerk of this Court a document entitled a “Motion for en banc Reconsideration of Order: 03-03-2022,” and on March 7, 2022, submitted to the Clerk of this Court a document entitled his “Supplemental to Motion for en banc Reconsideration for Order.”
Absent plenary power, each of the above-described motions presented to the Court by R.D.W. must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction .
It is so ORDERED.
Judge’s signature: ___/s/ Amparo Guerra______
Acting individually Acting for the Court Date: __March 15, 2022____
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