In Fox v. Medina, 848 S.W.2d 866 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 1993, no writ), the district court conducted its hearing and rendered an oral judgment in open court within ten days of the date the appeal was filed, but did not sign the judgment until after the expiration of the statutory period. Id. at 870. Rather than require the appellant to obtain a written judgment within ten days, the court of appeals reasoned that "the better course is to have trial judges hear or 'try' the case within 10 days and render judgment in that period, but not to strip appellants of their appeal and render for appellees automatically if the judge does not sign the written judgment within 10 days." Id. at 871 n.3. In Fox, the district court tried the applicant's appeal and orally rendered judgment in open court within the ten-day period. However, the district court did not sign a judgment until the statutory period expired. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 870. The court of appeals did not require the appellant to obtain a signed judgment within the ten days and, instead, held that the district court need only hear the appeal and make a decision within the ten days. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 870. If this occurs, the court of appeals further held, the district court can sign a judgment reflecting that decision after the statutory time period expires. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 870. The court of appeals explained that this approach precludes parties from automatically losing the district court appeal based on a deemed affirmance of the administrative decision and from losing their further appellate rights. Fox, 848 S.W.2d at 871 n.3.