AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• The Plaintiff filed a personal injury claim against the Defendants, which was dismissed by the district court through a summary judgment order. The Plaintiff appealed the decision, but the appeal was proposed to be dismissed due to the untimely filing of a notice of appeal. The Plaintiff argued that the delay was beyond her control because neither she nor her counsel received a signed copy of the final order granting summary judgment.

Procedural History

• District Court of Eddy County, J. Richard Brown, District Judge, May 7, 2010: Summary judgment granted in favor of Defendants.

Parties' Submissions

• Plaintiff-Appellant: Argued that the appeal should be considered despite being untimely because neither she nor her counsel were provided with a signed copy of the final order granting summary judgment, which misled them due to the district court's common practice of sending file-stamped copies of final orders.
• Defendants-Appellees: [Not applicable or not found]

Legal Issues

• Whether the Plaintiff's appeal should be dismissed for being filed beyond the permissible period despite the Plaintiff's claim that the delay was beyond her control.

Disposition

• The Court of Appeals dismissed the Plaintiff's appeal based on the failure to file a timely notice of appeal.

Reasons

• Per Cynthia A. Fry, J. (James J. Wechsler, J., and Roderick T. Kennedy, J., concurring):
  The Court found that the timely filing of a notice of appeal is a mandatory precondition to its jurisdiction. The Plaintiff's notice of appeal was filed over a year after the district court's order granting summary judgment, which was beyond the thirty-day requirement. The Court was not persuaded by the Plaintiff's argument that the delay was due to exceptional circumstances beyond her control, specifically the claim that neither she nor her counsel were provided with a signed copy of the final order. The Court noted that the Plaintiff and her counsel were aware of the court's decision to grant summary judgment and had received copies of Defendants' requested findings and proposed summary judgment order. Despite this, Plaintiff's counsel waited over a year to check the court's website for the order's filing status. The Court concluded that the Plaintiff failed to establish the requisite exceptional circumstances excusing her failure to file a timely notice of appeal. The Court also noted that even if the district court and Defendants failed to provide Plaintiff with a copy of the final order, this does not excuse the Plaintiff's inaction for over a year.