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University of Houston v. Barth6/30/2005
This is an interlocutory appeal of the trial court's denial of appellant's, the University of Houston (UH), plea to the jurisdiction. Appellee, Stephen Barth, a tenured professor at the UH Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel Management (Hilton College), filed suit against UH under the Whistleblower Act, contending that his supervisor retaliated against him after Barth reported alleged accounting violations.
In seven issues, UH contends that the trial court erred in denying its plea and supplemental plea to the jurisdiction because (1) Barth did not timely file all of his grievances, (2) Barth did not timely file suit, and (3) several of the acts complained of were not "adverse personnel actions" as defined in the Whistleblower Act.
Factual & Procedural Background
Barth is a tenured professor at Hilton College. In 1998, one of Barth's colleagues told him that Alan Stutts, Dean of Hilton College, was pressuring him to perform what he termed "questionable" accounting transactions and practices. Barth reported these alleged violations to (among others) UH Provost Ed Sheridan and UH's general counsel. On January 14, 2000, Barth discovered he had been denied a 1999 merit raise he contends he deserved under the merit evaluation guidelines. Barth filed a grievance on March 10, 2000. On August 17, 2000, two weeks after receiving final notice that he would not be given a 2000 merit raise, Barth filed his second grievance. On November 21, 2000, Barth filed a third grievance. Eventually, the second and third grievances were consolidated into a single grievance. Barth complained that, as retaliation for reporting accounting irregularities, Stutts: (1) attempted to breach Barth's supplementary compensation agreement; (2) intimidated Barth's assistant and other faculty members with whom Barth worked closely; (3) denied Barth travel money; (4) wrote an arbitrary and capricious evaluation of Barth's performance; (5) withdrew support for Barth's academic initiatives; (6) encouraged an associate to file a false discrimination claim against him; (7) alienated the students and faculty from Barth; (8) excluded Barth from an on-line graduate program; (8) excluded Barth from internal and external communications; and (9) defamed Barth before students and faculty.
The provost responded in part to the first grievance on May 31, 2000 and responded to the second and third grievances, and the issues remaining from the first grievance, in a letter dated June 5, 2001. Barth filed suit on July 5, 2001. However, correspondence between Barth and the provost continued until the fall. Although the provost noted in his June 5 letter that " ince you have chosen not to appeal any of the Grievance Committee recommendations to me, I now regard this grievance procedure as ended," Barth responded on June 18 with a request for just such an appeal. In a letter dated September 5, 2001, the provost noted, " n response to your statement that the grievance process has been concluded, I wish to state it is not concluded, at least not due to any action or decision on my part."
There was no further action taken in regard to Barth's grievances and the suit went forward. After the trial court denied UH's plea and supplemental plea to the jurisdiction, this interlocutory appeal ensued.
Plea to the Jurisdiction
A plea to the jurisdiction is a dilatory plea that seeks dismissal of a case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 554 (Tex. 2000). Subject-matter jurisdiction is essential to the authority of a court to decide a case. See Mayhew v. Town of Sunnyvale, 964 S.W.2d 922, 928 (Tex. 1998). Governmental immunity from su
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