City of Dallas v. Arredondo

415 S.W.3d 327, 2013 WL 4076868
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 13, 2013
DocketNos. 05-12-00963-CV, 05-12-00965-CV, 05-12-00966-CV, 05-12-00967-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 415 S.W.3d 327 (City of Dallas v. Arredondo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Dallas v. Arredondo, 415 S.W.3d 327, 2013 WL 4076868 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice LANG-MIERS.

The City of Dallas filed these interlocutory appeals from orders denying its pleas to the jurisdiction in four lawsuits filed against the City by current and former police officers, firefighters, and rescue officers (the Officers) alleging that the City breached its contract with them regarding their pay. We consolidated the appeals for the purpose of briefing and argument. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s denial of the pleas to the jurisdiction in part and reverse in part. We remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Background

In 1979, the voters of Dallas approved a pay referendum for the City’s sworn police officers, firefighters, and rescue officers, and the City enacted an ordinance adopting the referendum. The Ordinance stated:

Be it ordained that: (1) From and after October 1, 1978, each sworn police officer and fire fighter and rescue officer employed by the City of Dallas, shall receive a raise in salary in an amount equal to not less than 15% of the base salary of a City of Dallas sworn police officer or fire fighter and rescue officer with three years service computed on the pay level in effect for sworn police officers and fire fighter and rescue officers of the City of Dallas with three years service in effect in the fiscal year beginning October, 1977; (2) The current percentage pay differential between grades in the sworn ranks of the Dallas Police Force and the Fire Fighter and Rescue Force shall be maintained; and (3) Employment benefits and assignment pay shall be maintained at levels of not less than those in effect for the fiscal year beginning October, 1977.

Dallas, Tex., Ordinance 16084, § 4 (Jan. 22,1979).

The City also passed two resolutions implementing the Ordinance. In the succeeding years, the City raised salaries through annual pay resolutions passed by [340]*340the City Council. Arredondo v. City of Dallas, 79 S.W.3d 657, 660-61 (Tex.App.Dallas 2002, pet. denied). And as time passed, the Officers accused the City of failing to maintain the percentage pay differential stated in the Ordinance.

Beginning in 1994, these lawsuits were filed by the Officers alleging that the Ordinance was a contract requiring the City to maintain the percentage pay differential in all future salary adjustments and that the City breached the contract by repeatedly increasing the pay of higher-ranking officers without making the same percentage adjustments to the pay of the lower-ranking officers. The City contended that the Ordinance was a one-time salary adjustment and was not intended to apply to all future salary adjustments. The trial court granted summary judgment against the City and the City appealed. Id. at 665. This Court concluded that the Ordinance was ambiguous about whether it was intended to be a one-time salary adjustment or apply to- all future salary adjustments, and we remanded the issue to the fact-finder. Id. at 659.

On remand, the City filed pleas to the jurisdiction asserting it had governmental immunity. See City of Dallas v. Albert, 214 S.W.3d 631, 634 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2006), rev’d, 354 S.W.3d 368 (Tex.2011). The Officers also amended their petitions to seek a declaration that their interpretation of the Ordinance was correct. Id. at 633. The trial court denied the City’s pleas to the jurisdiction, and the City appealed.1

In addressing the Officers’ declaratory judgment claims, we concluded that the trial court was correct to deny the City’s pleas to the jurisdiction to the extent the Officers sought only to declare the rights, status, and legal relations of the parties under the Ordinance. Id. at 637. In addressing the Officers’ breach of contract claims, we concluded that the City had immunity and reversed the trial court’s ruling. See id. at 636, 638. However, we noted that while the appeal was pending in our Court, the Texas Legislature enacted a new statute that waived immunity from suit for certain breach of contract claims filed against local governmental entities. Id. at 636-37 (citing Tex. Local Gov’t Code Ann. §§ 271.151-.160 (West 2005)). We also noted that the statute applied retroactively to claims already filed. Id. Consequently, we remanded for the trial court to determine whether the Officers’ breach of contract claims fell within the limited waiver of immunity found in section 271.152. Id. The parties filed cross-petitions for review, which the Supreme Court of Texas granted and consolidated. City of Dallas v. Albert, 354 S.W.3d 368, 373 & n. 3 (Tex.2011).

While the petitions for review were pending, in August 2009, the attorney for the Officers died and new counsel was substituted in each of the four cases. However, new counsel was unable to locate and contact all the Officers and, as a result, many were unrepresented after counsel died.

In 2011, the supreme court issued its opinion in Albert. The supreme court concluded that the City had governmental immunity from the Officers’ claims for declaratory judgment because the Officers were “not attempting to invalidate the pay ordinance. To the contrary, they are attempting to enforce the ordinance according to its terms as they read it.” Id. at 378. The court concluded that “[bjecause the Officers’ only potential relief was an award of money damages, the City is im[341]*341mune from their declaratory judgment claims” and the claims must be dismissed. Id. The supreme court also noted that none of the parties had appealed our judgment remanding “the issue of whether the Local Government Code amendments waive the City's immunity for the Officers’ breach of contract claims” and declined to consider the Officers’ request for leave to file supplemental briefing on that issue. See id. at 377.

On remand, the represented Officers amended their petitions to drop their claims for declaratory relief, but the unrepresented Officers did not. The City filed special exceptions on the remaining claims, which included the unrepresented Officers’ claims for declaratory relief and all the Officers’ claims for attorney’s fees for breach of contract. The trial court sustained the special exceptions on the attorney’s fees claims, and the represented Officers nonsuited their claims for attorney’s fees; the unrepresented Officers did not. The City then filed pleas to the jurisdiction, with evidence, arguing that the local government code did not waive its immunity from the Officers’ breach of contract claims. It also argued that the unrepresented Officers’ claims for declaratory judgment should be dismissed pursuant to Albert and their attorney’s fees claims should be dismissed because the trial court sustained the City’s special exceptions on those claims. The trial court denied the pleas to the jurisdiction, and these interlocutory appeals followed.

II. BREACH of Contract Claims

In issues one and two, the City contends that the trial court erred by denying its pleas to the jurisdiction on the Officers’ breach of contract claims.

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415 S.W.3d 327, 2013 WL 4076868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-dallas-v-arredondo-texapp-2013.