A lawsuit brought by J.D. Roberts, who sued Munro's Dry Cleaning claiming the cleaner got rid of his clothes after storing them for several years, still hasn't been dismissed for want of prosecution, despite two notices.
As the Southeast Texas Record previously reported, on March 25, 2010, Munro's filed a no-evidence motion for summary judgment, arguing that "despite the passage of nearly six months since the case was filed, Roberts has failed to present any evidence."
Judge Floyd, 172nd District Court, granted Munro's motion on May 7, 2010. Roberts responded with a motion for new trial.
On Nov. 4, 2011, Floyd gave notice that the case is more than 18 months old without final disposition, slating it for dismissal on Nov. 16.
On May 21 Floyd entered a second notice of intent to dismiss, stating a final judgment must be filed by the parties or the case will be dismissed for want of prosecution on June 13, court papers say.
As of July 30 no final judgment or order of dismissal is entered in the court record.
In September 2009, Roberts filed suit against Munro's in Jefferson County District Court, claiming not all of his clothes were returned to him even though he had contracted with Munro's to store them.
Roberts states in his suit that sometime in September 2007 he requested that the items be returned to him, but found that a great number of the articles of clothing were no longer in storage at the dry cleaner.
Court papers show that on April 12, 2002, Roberts had Munro's clean a "voluminous amount of clothing" that had sustained fire damage.
After cleaning the clothes, Munro billed Roberts $4,676.60. However, he was unable to pay and Munro's agreed to allow him to pay his bill in monthly payments and retrieve his items as he paid, Roberts claimed.
Five year later, Roberts still had not paid his bill in full, leading Munro's to donate his remaining clothing to charity, court papers say.
Attorneys John D. West and Scott Renick of Beaumont represent Roberts.
Case No. E184-811