Becky, Ltd. v. the City of Cedar Park, Matt Powell, Stephen Thomas, Lyle Grimes, Lowell Moore, Jon Lux, and Don Tracy

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 29, 2015·No. 03-15-00259-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 03-15-00259-CV 6282836 THIRD COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 7/29/2015 5:39:39 PM JEFFREY D. KYLE CLERK NO. 03-15-00259-CV

FILED IN 3rd COURT OF APPEALS IN THE COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS FOR THE THIRD DISTRICT OF TEXAS 7/29/2015 5:39:39 PM AUSTIN JEFFREY D. KYLE Clerk

BECKY, LTD., Appellant v. THE CITY OF CEDAR PARK, STEPHEN THOMAS, MATT POWELL, MITCH FULLER, LYLE GRIMES, LOWELL MOORE, JON LUX, AND DON TRACY, Appellees.

ON APPEAL FROM THE 126TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS TRIAL COURT CAUSE NO. D-1-GN-14-001293

APPELLEES’ BRIEF

BICKERSTAFF HEATH COBBY A. CAPUTO DELGADO ACOSTA LLP State Bar No. 03784650 3711 S. MoPac Expressway ccaputo@bickerstaff.com Building One, Suite 300 Austin, TX 78746 BRADLEY B. YOUNG (512) 472-8021 State Bar No. 24028245 (512) 320-5638 FACSIMILE byoung@bickerstaff.com

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES

ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED IDENTITY OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL

The parties and counsel are correctly identified in the Initial Brief of

Appellant Becky, Ltd.

RECORD REFERENCES

The Clerk's Record filed with the Third Court of Appeals on May 6, 2015

will be cited as “CR __,” where the blank refers to the District Clerk’s consecutive

page numbering.

Appellees’ Appendix will be cited as “Appendix.” Appellant’s Appendix

will be cited as “Appellant’s Appendix.”

DESIGNATION OF PARTIES

The parties shall be referred to as follows: (i) “Appellant” or “Becky” refers

to Appellant Becky Ltd.; and (ii) “Appellees” or “the city” refers collectively to

Appellees the City of Cedar Park, Stephen Thomas, Matt Powell, Mitch Fuller,

Lyle Grimes, Lowell Moore, Jon Lux, and Don Tracy. “Milestone” refers to

Milestone Community Builders, LLC, a party to the proceeding below prior to

severance.

i TABLE OF CONTENTS

IDENTITY OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL .............................................................i

RECORD REFERENCES .........................................................................................i

DESIGNATION OF PARTIES ..................................................................................i

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... ii

INDEX OF AUTHORITIES.....................................................................................iv

STATEMENT OF THE CASE .................................................................................. 2

STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT ............................................... 2

ISSUES PRESENTED............................................................................................... 3

STATEMENT OF FACTS ........................................................................................ 4

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ........................................................................ 7

ARGUMENT AND AUTHORITIES ........................................................................ 8

I. Neither the facts that Becky has alleged nor the jurisdictional evidence support subject-matter jurisdiction over Becky’s claims. [Appellant’s Br. at 6-11] ................. 8

II. Both the city and the city council members acting in their official capacities are entitled to governmental immunity ...................................................................... 10

A. Becky has not implicated the ultra vires exception to immunity because the City Council’s decision to contract with Milestone was a discretionary act. [Appellant’s Br. at 12-17] ......................................................... 10

ii B. The UDJA does not waive a city’s governmental immunity from a suit to declare rights under an ordinance. [Appellant’s Br. at 17-19] ...................................... 17

III. Becky lacks standing because it was not a party to the Agreement. [Appellant’s Br. at 19-23] ..................................... 19

IV. Becky’s claims were not ripe because it never submitted a completed plat application to the city for review. [Appellant’s Br. at 24-25] ...................................................... 24

V. Becky’s claims are moot. [Appellant’s Br. at 25-28] ........................ 27

PRAYER .................................................................................................................. 27

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ................................................................................ 29

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ....................................................................... 30

APPENDIX .............................................................................................................. 31

iii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page(s)

Cases Bd. of Adjustment of the City of San Antonio v. Wende, 92 S.W.3d 424 (Tex. 2002)................................................................................. 14

Brunson v. Woolsey, 63 S.W.3d 583 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2001, no pet.) ....................................... 19

Cadle Co. v. Lobingier, 50 S.W.3d 662 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2001, pet. denied)................................. 19

Catalina Dev., Inc. v. County of El Paso, 121 S.W.3d 704 (Tex.2003)................................................................................ 11

City of Corinth v. NuRock Dev., Inc., 293 S.W.3d 360 (Tex. App. – Fort Worth 2009, no pet.)................................... 26

City of Dallas v. Texas EZPAWN, L.P., No. 05-12-01269-CV, 2013 WL 1320513 (Tex. App. – Dallas Apr. 1, 2013, no pet.) (mem. op.)..........................................................................17, 18

City of El Paso v. Heinrich, 284 S.W.3d 366 (Tex. 2009) ........................................................................11, 16

City of El Paso v. Maddox, 276 S.W.3d 66 (Tex. App. – El Paso 2008, pet. denied) ..............................25, 26

City of Laredo v. Rio Grande H2O Guardian, No. 04-10-00872-CV, 2011 WL 3122205 (Tex. App. – San Antonio Jul. 27, 2011, no pet.) .....................................................................23, 24

City of New Braunfels v. Tovar, No. 03-14-00693-CV, 2015 WL 2183479 (Tex. App. – Austin May 7, 2015, no pet. h.) ...................................................................................... 15

Coble v. City of Mansfield, 134 S.W.3d 449 (Tex. App. – Fort Worth 2004, no pet.)................................... 26

iv Cokins v. City of Lakeway, No. 03-12-00083-CV, 2013 WL 4007522 (Tex. App. – Austin July 25, 2013, no pet.) (mem. op.) ............................................................................. 10

Creedmoor-Maha Water Supply Corp. v. Tex. Com’n on Envtl. Quality, 307 S.W.3d 505 (Tex. App. – Austin 2010, no pet.) .......................................... 16

DeSoto Wildwood Dev., Inc. v.

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Becky, Ltd. v. the City of Cedar Park, Matt Powell, Stephen Thomas, Lyle Grimes, Lowell Moore, Jon Lux, and Don Tracy, (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Becky, Ltd. v. the City of Cedar Park, Matt Powell, Stephen Thomas, Lyle Grimes, Lowell Moore, Jon Lux, and Don Tracy (Becky, Ltd. v. the City of Cedar Park, Matt Powell, Stephen Thomas, Lyle Grimes, Lowell Moore, Jon Lux, and Don Tracy) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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