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City of Sugarland v. Ballard1/27/2005
Appellant, the City of Sugarland ("the City"), appeals from an order denying its plea to the jurisdiction on grounds of governmental immunity from suit in a wrongful-death suit brought by appellee, James L. Ballard ("Ballard"), individually and as representative of the estate of Mark Russell Ballard ("Mark"), deceased. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. ยง 51.014(a)(8) (Vernon Supp. 2004-2005). We first determine whether the Texas Tort Claims Act ("TTCA") waives governmental immunity from suit for claims based on (1) officers' negligent failure to supervise Mark, who was their detainee, and (2) the City's negligent training and supervision of its officers, its ratification of negligent handling and detention procedures, and its policies. We next determine if the TTCA waives governmental immunity from suit for negligence in failing to secure a detainee properly within a patrol car, which failure allowed the detainee to escape and, during his flight, to be struck by an oncoming car. We reverse the order and remand the cause with an instruction to grant the City's jurisdictional plea.
Standard of Review
"In a suit against a governmental unit, the plaintiff must affirmatively demonstrate the court's jurisdiction by alleging a valid waiver of immunity." Dallas Area Rapid Transit v. Whitley, 104 S.W.3d 540, 542 (Tex. 2003). "To determine if the plaintiff has met that burden, 'we consider the facts alleged by the plaintiff and, to the extent it is relevant to the jurisdictional issue, the evidence submitted by the parties.'" Id. (quoting Tex. Natural Res. Conservation Comm'n v. White, 46 S.W.3d 864, 868 (Tex. 2001)). " f 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." County of Cameron v. Brown, 80 S.W.3d 549, 555 (Tex. 2002). Because sovereign immunity from suit defeats a trial court's subject-matter jurisdiction, immunity from suit may properly be asserted in a jurisdictional plea. See Tex. Dep't of Parks & Wildlife v. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d 217, 225-26 (Tex. 2004).
We review de novo a trial court's ruling on a jurisdictional plea, construing the pleadings in the plaintiff's favor and looking to the pleader's intent. Id. at 226; Tex. Natural Res. Conservation Comm'n v. IT-Davy, 74 S.W.3d 849, 855 (Tex. 2002). Whether the pleader has alleged facts that affirmatively demonstrate subject-matter jurisdiction is a legal question that we review de novo. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d at 226.
Background
The parties submitted no evidence, and our facts thus come from Ballard's pleadings, viewed in light of his intent and construed liberally in favor of jurisdiction. See, e.g., Tex. Ass'n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 446 (Tex. 1993); IT-Davy, 74 S.W.3d 849. On August 17, 2002, police officers of the City arrested Mark, a minor. The officers placed Mark in a police car, from which he tried to escape by kicking out the rear window. The officers then placed Mark in a second police car, but they failed to secure him adequately and, while Mark was "being transported," he escaped. After Mark escaped from the second police car, a private car struck and killed him "in the 16,900 block of Highway 59." The petition does not state, and no one presented evidence concerning, the second police car's location at the time of the escape, whether or how fast the car was then moving, or how soon Mark was struck after he escaped. Ballard's reply to the jurisdictional plea, however, alleged, without evidentiary support, that the second police car was moving at the time of the escape and that Mark was killed "immediately" upon exiting the patrol
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