D'Etra R. Goodspeed-Hunter v. Jackson Water Well Drilling. & Service, LLC
CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 3rd District (Austin)
Date FiledSeptember 3, 2026
Docket03-26-00621-CV
StatusPublished
📰 News Coverage: Read the LAWS.com news report on this case
Full Opinion
TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN
NO. 03-26-00621-CV
D’Etra R. Goodspeed-Hunter, Appellant
v.
Jackson Water Well Drilling & Service, LLC, Appellee
FROM THE 335TH DISTRICT COURT OF BASTROP COUNTY
NO. 3168-335, THE HONORABLE JOHN WINKELMANN, JUDGE PRESIDING
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant D’Etra R. Goodspeed-Hunter appeals the trial court’s February 27, 2026
order, which granted appellee Jackson Water Well Drilling & Service, LLC’s (Jackson) plea in
bar and motion to dismiss and dismissed all of Goodspeed-Hunter’s claims with prejudice.
Jackson filed a motion to dismiss this appeal, asserting that this Court lacks jurisdiction over the
appeal because the notice of appeal was not timely filed. We agree.
The order from which Goodspeed-Hunter appeals was signed by the district court
on February 27, 2026. Assuming Goodspeed-Hunter’s Motion for Reconsideration extended the
deadline for perfecting an appeal, the deadline would have been May 28, 2026. See Tex. R. App.
P. 26.1(a) (“[T]he notice of appeal must be filed within 90 days after the judgment is signed if
any party timely files: (1) a motion for new trial; (2) a motion to modify the judgment . . . .”).
Goodspeed-Hunter filed her notice of appeal on July 9, 2026, forty-two days past the deadline.
The notice of appeal was therefore untimely. “[O]nce the period for granting a motion for
extension of time under Rule 41(a)(2) [now Rule 26.3] has passed, a party can no longer invoke
the appellate court’s jurisdiction.” Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997).
Accordingly, we grant Jackson’s motion and dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction. See
Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a).
__________________________________________
Rosa Lopez Theofanis, Justice
Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Kelly and Theofanis
Dismissed for Want of Jurisdiction
Filed: September 3, 2026
2