Motion for Refund of Appellate Filing Fee; Proposed Order

    Tie ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

JIM MATTOX January 12, 1990 
ATTORNEY GENERAL 

VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS 
U.S. District Clerk 

200 East Wall, Room 316 
Federal Building 
Midland, Texas 79701 

  

Re: LULAC #4434, et al. v. Mattox, et al., 

Civil Action No. MO-88-CA-154 

Dear Sir or Madam: 

Enclosed for filing in the above-referenced cause are the original 
and one copy of a Motion for Refund of Appellate Filing Fee, along with 
a proposed Order. Also, pursuant to the Clerk's direction, there is a 
check enclosed for $105.00 made payable to the Clerk for filing fees. 

  

Special Assistant Attorney General 

P.O. Box 12548, Capitol Station 
Austin, Texas 78711-2548 
(512) 463-2085 

CC; Counsel of Record 

S12/468 = 2100 SUPREME COURT BUILDING AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2348 

 



  

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS 
MIDLAND /ODESSA DIVISION 

LULAC COUNCIL #4434, et al., 

Plaintiffs, 

Civil Action No. 

MO-88-CA-154 

VS. 

JIM MATTOX, et al., 
Defendants. on

 
Wo

n 
Ao
n 

Co
N 

Ao
n 

Lo
n 

Un
 

MOTION FOR REFUND OF APPELLATE FILING FEE 

The State Defendants hereby move the Court for a refund of the 

filing fee which the Clerk of this Court compelled them to pay in 

connection with their Notice of Appeal filed on January 12, 1990. The 

grounds follow: 

1, On January 11, 1990, the State Defendants filed a Notice 

of Appeal. Accompanying it was a check made payable to the Clerk for 

$105.00 for filing fees associated with the appeal. 

2. Also on January 11, 1990, the Court disposed of a Motion 

to Alter the Order of January 2, 1990, which had been characterized 

as a Rule 59(e) motion when it was filed. 

3. On January 12, 1990, the State Defendants filed a new 

Notice of Appeal. It added the Court's Order of December 11, 1990, 

to the orders being appealed. No new filing fee accompanied the 

January 12th Notice of Appeal. 

4. On January 12th, the Clerk's office contacted counsel for 

the State Defendants by telephone and directed them to forward 

another $105.00 filing fee. In the telephone conversation, counsel 

called to the Clerk's attention the provision of the Federal Rules of 

 



Appellate Procedure which, in his view, made the filing of new fee in 

connection with the appeal both unnecessary and inappropriate. The 

Clerk indicated that State Defendants nonetheless must pay the fee for 

the January 12th fee. Through a second check made payable to the 

Clerk and submitted to the Clerk on January 15, 1990, counsel for the 

State Defendants has complied with the Clerk's direction. 

5. The Clerk is clearly in error in requiring the second filing 

fee associated with the January 12th Notice of Appeal. The fee 

accompanying the January 11th Notice of Appeal sufficed to cover the 

January 12th notice, too. 

Rule 4(a)(4) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure could 

not be clearer on this point. It provides in the last sentence: "No 

additional fees shall be required for [the second] filing." Not only is 

there no statutory basis for the Clerk's requirement of a second fee; 

such a requirement is explicitly forbidden by the applicable rule. 

Based upon the foregoing, the State Defendants request the 

Court to grant this motion. 

 



  

Respectfully submitted, 

JIM MATTOX 
Attorney General of Texas 

MARY F. KELLER 
First Assistant Attorney General : 

  

  

Spogial Assistant Attorney General 
er : / Wi — y 2 7 

dl / / ’ “Sf Nis lear suri 
  

JAVIER GUAJARDO - ~ 
~ Assistant Attorney General 

P. O. Box 12548, Capitol Station 
Austin, Texas 78711-2548 
(512) 463-2085 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I certify that on this 12th day of January, 1990, I sent a copy of 
the foregoing document by first class U.S. mail to each of the following: 
William L. Garrett, Garrett, Thompson & Chang, 8300 Douglas, Suite 
800, Dallas, Texas 75225; Rolando Rios, Southwest Voter Registration 
& Education Project, 201 N. St. Mary's, Suite 521, San Antonio, Texas 
78205; Sherrilyn A. Ifill, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 
Inc., 99 Hudson Street, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10013; 
Gabrielle K. McDonald, 301 Congress Avenue, Suite 2050, Austin, 
Texas 78701; Edward B. Cloutman, III, Mullinax, Wells, Baab & 
Cloutman, P.C., 3301 Elm Street, Dallas, Texas 75226-1637; J. Eugene 
Clements, Porter & Clements, 700 Louisiana, Suite 3500, Houston, 
Texas 77002-2730; Robert H. Mow, Jr., Hughes & Luce, 2800 
Momentum Place, 1717 Main Street, Dallas, Texas 75201; and John L. 
Hill, Jr. Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon, 3300 Texas Commerce 
Tower, Houston, Texas 77002. _———_ 

/ 

  

{ ae Yoh 
\ : \ # 2 : 

Reétéa Hicks 

 



  

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS 
MIDLAND /ODESSA DIVISION 

LULAC COUNCIL #4434, et al., 5 
Plaintiffs, 8 

§ 
VS. § Civil Action No. 

8 MO-88-CA-154 
JIM MATTOX, et al., § 

Defendants. § 

ORDER 

On this day came before the Court the State Defendants’ Motion 

for Refund of Appellate Filing Fee. The motion is well-taken and, 

therefore, it is hereby 

ORDERED that the motion is GRANTED. The Clerk of this Court 

is directed to rebate to the State of Texas the $105.00 filing fee paid 

in connection with the Notice of Appeal filed on January 12, 1990. 

SIGNED and ENTERED this ___ day of January, 1990. 

  

LUCIUS D. BUNTON 
Chief Judge