If you keep or restore your file, the following may be retained: Step 4: ☐ Send a copy of your application with the folder stamp on the other side. You will need to resubmit your file, pay the filing fee again and ask the other party to redeliver it (if necessary). Be prepared to explain to the judge why you should keep the case on the list. Provide proof that you have sent the request to keep the matter on file and the notice of hearing to the other party. Present the order on request to maintain the case so that the judge can sign it. Remember that the judge may or may not keep your case. . See Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules 165(a)(4). Before dismissing a case for failure to prosecute, the clerk will send you a letter or email informing you that your case has been placed on the rejection list (list of cases to be rejected at any given time).
If a case is “recovered”, it will be resumed after its rejection. If your case was dismissed for lack of prosecution, you can ask the judge to reopen your case by filing a motion to reinstate the case in the dock and a notice of hearing (if you file within the time limit set below). Keep proof that you sent the request to keep the case on the piece of paper and the notification of the hearing to the other party. You must bring evidence to your hearing. Send a stamped copy of the request to keep the case on the piece of paper and the notification of the hearing to the other party. Send it the same day you receive the date of the hearing. The other party must receive it at least 3 days before the hearing. If the other party has a lawyer, send it to the lawyer rather than directly to the other party. You must submit a completed application for reinstatement of the case on the piece of paper and the notice of hearing within 30 days of the date the judge signed the dismissal order.
. Submit your completed application to keep the record on the piece of paper and notice of the hearing at the Clerk`s office and receive a copy for you and the other party. The clerk will “stamp” your forms with the date and time and send you the copies back. . Exception: If you first became aware of the termination order more than 20 days after the judge signed it, your 30-day time limit for filing the application for reinstatement of the case in the dock began on the day you received the clerk`s dismissal or the day you actually learned of the dismissal (as the case may be, what happened first). But even if this exception applies, your 30-day period cannot begin more than 90 days after the judge has signed the release order. The last thing you could file an application to reinstate the case in the dock is 120 days after the judge signs the dismissal order. .
Call the clerk`s office and tell them that you want to schedule a hearing on an application to keep the matter on paper. The clerk will give you the date and time of the hearing. “Dismissed due to lack of prosecution” or DWOP means that your case will be dismissed by the judge because nothing happened in your case for a while or you missed a hearing or trial (of which you were aware). When a file is “kept”, it remains open. If your case has been placed on the dismiss list (but not yet dismissed), you can ask the judge to keep your case open by making a request to keep the case in the dock and notice of the hearing. . If nothing happens in your case for a while, it may be “dismissed for lack of prosecution” (called DWOP). Request the continuation of the proceedings and the notification of the oral proceedings.
. Fill out this form entirely in blue or black ink and sign it. . If there was a legal deadline to file your file and it has passed, you may not be lucky. Talk to a lawyer if there was a legal deadline to file your case. .
