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Texas Dep't of Criminal Justice v. Hawkins8/12/2005
Before Justices O'Neill, Lang, and Lang-Miers
This case is brought against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) by the family of Officer Aubrey Hawkins. The TDCJ filed a plea to the jurisdiction, asserting that its sovereign immunity was not waived under the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA). The trial court denied the TDCJ's plea. Because we conclude immunity was not waived under the TTCA, we vacate the trial court's order denying the plea and render judgment for TDCJ dismissing the cause of action.
Facts
The facts as pleaded by the Hawkins family tell the story of how seven inmates (the Seven) escaped from the Connally Unit in Huntsville, commandeered at least 14 of the state's weapons in the back tower, escaped through the back gate, and 11 days later and 300 miles away, used the weapons to kill Officer Aubrey Hawkins when he attempted to apprehend them. The facts alleged in the Hawkins's petition are largely taken from the report of the official investigation of the escape. On December 13, 2000, six of the seven prisoners were left unsupervised in the maintenance area during lunch and during a "major count" of inmates. They obtained "sensitive" tools, meaning tools that might be used to effect an escape or that pose a threat to prison security. They bound certain TDCJ personnel in the electrical room. When the employees broke free, they set off the fire alarm. The signal went off in the central control tower, but the guard in the control room silenced the alarm without alerting anyone.
Familiar with prison procedures, the prisoners called in their presence during the "major count." During the course of the escape, they commandeered state-employee uniforms. They called the back-tower officer to alert him to the arrival of a maintenance worker , who was actually one of them. A first group of offenders was not asked for proper identification and was let through a back gate. At the back tower, the guard did not ask an approaching offender for proper identification, and the offender entered the tower through the open trap door. The officer had unholstered his weapon and left it on a desk. The offender stole the weapon. The back tower was used to store weapons for field and transportation officers, although it was not designed for that use. From the tower, the offenders obtained 13 additional weapons, all .357 Magnum revolvers. The Seven escaped in a maintenance worker's pickup, through an open gate.
Eleven days later, on Christmas eve, the Seven robbed an Oshman's store in Irving, Texas. Office Hawkins responded and intercepted the Seven in the parking lot. Using the weapons they had commandeered in the prison tower, they fired at Hawkins, killing him. Hawkins's wife, son, and parents sued the TDCJ, alleging negligence. The TDCJ filed a plea to the jurisdiction, asserting sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the plea, without giving reasons. TDCJ brought this interlocutory appeal, as authorized under the civil practice & remedies code. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. ยง 51.014(a)(8) (Vernon 2005).
Standard of Review and Applicable Statute
Governmental immunity from suit defeats a trial court's subject-matter jurisdiction and thus is properly asserted in a plea to the jurisdiction. Tex. Dept. of Transp. v. Jones, 8 S.W.3d 636, 637 (Tex. 1999). The existence of subject-matter jurisdiction is a question of law; thus, we review de novo the trial court's ruling on a plea to the jurisdiction. Tex. State Employees Union/CWA Local 6184 A.F.L.C.I.O. v. Tex. Workforce Comm'n, 16 S.W.3d 61, 65 (Tex. App.-Austin 2000, no pet.).
Plaintiff has the burden to allege facts affirmatively demonstrating
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