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Austin Independent School Dist. v. Gutierrez8/30/2001
Affirmed
Publish
Immediately after disembarking from a school bus, eight-year-old Adriana Gutierrez was struck and killed by a passing motorist. Appellee Maria Teresa Gutierrez, Adriana's mother, filed suit against several defendants, including appellant, Austin Independent School District ("AISD"). Even though Gutierrez's pleadings alleged a cause of action against AISD pursuant to the Texas Tort Claims Act, AISD filed a plea to the jurisdiction contending that its immunity from suit deprived the trial court of subject-matter jurisdiction. The trial court denied AISD's plea to the jurisdiction. AISD brings this interlocutory appeal from that denial. We will affirm.
THE CONTROVERSY
On the afternoon of February 9, 1999, an AISD school bus driven by Barbarita Ruiz stopped in the 2100 Block of Burton Drive in Austin to drop off eight-year-old Adriana and her cousin, Raul. The school bus was parked across the street from Adriana's home, so the two children had to cross Burton Drive. Ruiz honked the bus's horn to signal the children that it was safe to cross the street. Raul went across safely, but as Adriana crossed the street she was hit by a third-party vehicle. It was later determined that the driver of that vehicle was intoxicated. Adriana was taken to Brackenridge Hospital where she died the following morning.
In Gutierrez's pleadings, she argued that AISD "was negligent in the operation or use of a motor-driven vehicle" and was liable pursuant to section 101.021(1)(A) of the Texas Tort Claims Act ("the Act"). Gutierrez claims that through specific actions taken by the bus driver involving negligent use or operation of the school bus, AISD waived its immunity under the Act. The actions described by Gutierrez were (1) the failure to use safe and appropriate procedures during the transportation process, which includes the unloading of school children, and (2) the use of the horn to signal Adriana to cross when it was not safe for her to do so.
In response to Gutierrez's pleadings, AISD filed a plea to the jurisdiction and a motion for summary judgment. In the district's plea to the jurisdiction, AISD contended that it was immune from suit and its immunity was not waived by the bus driver's actions. AISD alleged that the bus driver's actions did not, through the use or operation of a motor-driven vehicle as case law has defined those terms, cause Adriana's death. The district argued that any actions taken by the driver as alleged by Gutierrez involved only supervision or control of children (or the failure thereof), which does not waive the school district's immunity from suit. AISD concluded that as there was no waiver of immunity from suit, the trial court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction.
The trial court denied both the plea to the jurisdiction and the motion for summary judgment. AISD filed an interlocutory appeal from the denial of the plea to the jurisdiction.
SCOPE OF REVIEW
This is an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a plea to the jurisdiction. AISD contends that it is immune from suit and that Gutierrez is barred from bringing an action against the school district. Therefore, the only issue before this Court is whether the trial court has subject-matter jurisdiction over Gutierrez's cause of action. We do not address the denial of the motion for summary judgment as it is not before this Court.
The Texas Supreme Court recently discussed pleas to the jurisdiction in the context of the Texas Tort Claims Act. See Texas Dep't of Criminal Justice v. Miller, 44 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 963 (June 21, 2001). The court found that because the Act defines a narrow set of circumsta
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