City of Weslaco and City of Donna v. Emilio Cantu

NUMBER 13-03-361-CV COURT OF APPEALS THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG ___________________________________________________________________ CITY OF WESLACO AND CITY OF DONNA, Appellants, v. EMILIO CANTU, Appellee. ___________________________________________________________________ On appeal from the 332nd District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas. __________________________________________________________________ MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Yañez, Rodriguez, and Garza Opinion by Justice Rodriguez Appellants, City of Weslaco and City of Donna, bring this accelerated interlocutory appeal following the trial court’s denial of their plea to the jurisdiction. By one issue, appellants contend the trial court erred in denying their plea to the jurisdiction because they are immune from suit under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. We reverse and render. I. FACTS As this is a memorandum opinion and the parties are familiar with the facts, we will not recite them here except as necessary to advise the parties of the Court's decision and the basic reasons for it. See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.II. STANDARD OF REVIEW A plea to the jurisdiction is a dilatory plea; its purpose is “to defeat a cause of action without regard to whether the claims asserted have merit.” Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 554 (Tex. 2000). The plea challenges the trial court’s authority to determine the subject matter of a pleaded cause of action. City of Midland v. Sullivan, 33 S.W.3d 1, 6 (Tex. App.–El Paso 2000, pet. dism’d w.o.j.); State v. Benavides, 772 S.W.2d 271, 273 (Tex. App.–Corpus Christi 1989, writ denied). Because subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law, we review a trial court’s ruling on a plea to the jurisdiction under a de novo standard of review. State v. Gonzalez, 82 S.W.3d 322, 327 (Tex. 2003). In determining whether jurisdiction exists, rather than looking at the claim’s merits, we look to the allegations in the pleadings, accept them as true, and construe them in favor of the pleader. See County of Cameron v. Brown, 80 S.W.3d 549, 555 (Tex. 2002); Tex. Ass’n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 446 (Tex. 1993). We consider the facts alleged in the petition, and to the extent relevant to the jurisdictional issue, any evidence submitted by the parties to the trial court. Tex. Natural Res. Conservation Comm’n v. White, 46 S.W.3d 864, 868 (Tex. 2001); Blue, 34 S.W.3d at 555. It is the plaintiff’s burden to allege facts affirmatively demonstrating the trial court’s jurisdiction. Tex. Ass’n of Bus., 852 S.W.2d at 446; Mission Consol. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Flores, 39 S.W.3d 674, 676 (Tex. App.–Corpus Christi 2001, no pet.). When a plaintiff fails to plead facts that establish jurisdiction, but the petition does not affirmatively demonstrate incurable defects in jurisdiction, the issue is one of pleading sufficiency and the plaintiff should be afforded the opportunity to amend. Brown, 80 S.W.3d at 555. On the other hand, if the pleadings affirmatively negate the existence of jurisdiction, then a plea to the jurisdiction may be granted without allowing the plaintiff an opportunity to amend. Id. III. ANALYSIS The State, its agencies, and subdivisions, such as cities, generally enjoy sovereign immunity from tort liability unless immunity has been waived. Id. at 554. The Texas Tort Claims Act (Tort Claims Act) expressly waives sovereign immunity, allowing suits to be brought against governmental units in certain, narrowly defined circumstances. Tex. Dep’t of Criminal Justice v. Miller, 51 S.W.3d 583, 587 (Tex. 2001). However, simply making a claim pursuant to the Tort Claims Act does not establish the State’s consent to be sued and is not enough to confer jurisdiction on the trial court. Id. For the trial court to have jurisdiction, the plaintiff must not only allege legislative consent to such suit in his petition, but must also plead facts that fall within the scope of the legislative consent. See id.; Nueces County v. Ferguson, 97 S.W.3d 205, 219 (Tex. App.–Corpus Christi 2002, no pet.). Furthermore, the Tort Claims Act specifically excludes waiver for a claim “arising out of assault, battery, false imprisonment, or any other intentional tort . . . .” Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 101.057(2) (Vernon 1997). Appellee generally alleges in his first amended petition that appellants are liable under the Tort Claims Act. In support of these claims, appellee contends only that his injuries were the result of police officers ramming him against the door of his motor vehicle, throwing him to the ground and beating him with a flashlight. This is the same conduct relied on by appellee as the basis for his claims against the police officers for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. This conduct is clearly intentional. See City of Laredo v. Nuno, 94 S.W.3d 786 (Tex. App.–San Antonio 2002, no pet.) (police officer dragging plaintiff out of vehicle, throwing her against the side, hitting her in the back with handcuffs, and kicking her in the legs considered intentional tort); Medrano v. City of Pearsall, 898 S.W.2d 141 (Tex. App.–San Antonio 1999, no pet.) (police officer beating and choking plaintiff with flashlight considered intentional tort). Since the pleadings fail to allege any negligent conduct, and the Tort Claims Act does not waive sovereign immunity for intentional torts, appellee has failed to establish a waiver of sovereign immunity. Thus, the trial court did not properly have jurisdiction over this cause and erred in denying appellants’ plea to the jurisdiction. Miller, 51 S.W.3d at 589. Appellants’ sole issue is sustained. Having determined that appellee failed to state a claim for which sovereign immunity is waived, we must now decide whether his petition is incurably defective or, whether under the facts alleged in the petition, it may be amended to allege a cause within the trial court’s jurisdiction. See Brown, 80 S.W.3d at 555. Before filing their plea to the jurisdiction, appellants filed special exceptions to appellee’s original petition. The special exceptions were specifically directed toward appellee’s failure to state an actionable claim under the Tort Claims Act. Appellee amended his petition; however, the amended petition continues to plead only intentional torts, which are not actionable under the Tort Claims Act. Therefore, we conclude appellee’s petition is incurably defective. The pleadings affirmatively negate the existence of jurisdiction, and appellants’ plea to the jurisdiction may be granted without allowing appellee an opportunity to amend. See id. IV. CONCLUSIONAccordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order denying appellants’ plea to the jurisdiction. We render judgment granting appellants’ plea to the jurisdiction and dismissing appellee’s claims against appellants for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. NELDA V. RODRIGUEZ Justice Opinion delivered and filed this 5th day of February, 2004.