City of Hous. v. Nicolai

539 S.W.3d 378
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 24, 2017
DocketNO. 01-16-00184-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 539 S.W.3d 378 (City of Hous. v. Nicolai) 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 Hous. v. Nicolai, 539 S.W.3d 378 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Terry Jennings, Justice *381In this interlocutory appeal,1 appellant, the City of Houston (the "City"), challenges the trial court's order denying its plea to the jurisdiction in the suit by appellees, Frank Nicolai and Debora Nicolai, as parents of Caroline Nicolai, deceased (the "Nicolais"), against the City for negligence and wrongful death.2 In its sole issue,3 the City contends that the trial court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over the Nicolais' suit.

We affirm.

Background

In their Seventh Amended Petition, the Nicolais alleged that at approximately 3:30 a.m. on October 2, 2013, Houston Police Department ("HPD") Officer R. Gonzales handcuffed the decedent and placed her in the back seat of a patrol car. The decedent was "either not seatbelted or improperly seatbelted." While Gonzales was transporting the decedent, an automobile, driven by Nicole Moser, struck the patrol car at the intersection of Chartres Street and Texas Avenue as Moser drove through a red light on Texas Avenue. The collision caused the decedent to be ejected from the patrol car and sustain severe injuries that ultimately led to her death. Law enforcement officers took Moser, who admitted at the scene that she had just left a nearby bar, to a hospital, where medical personnel, based on her blood-alcohol concentration, found her to be intoxicated.

The Nicolais further alleged that at the time of the collision, Officer Gonzales was acting within the course and scope of her employment with the City, operating a vehicle owned by the City, and negligent in:

• failing to use, misusing or improperly using the seatbelt on [the decedent] in the [police] vehicle, allowing her to be ejected upon impact;
• failing to keep such a lookout as a person of ordinary, reasonable prudence would have kept under the same or similar circumstances;
• failing to slow down and if necessary, yield to traffic so as to avoid the collision made the basis of this suit;
• failing to timely and properly apply brakes;
• failing to take appropriate evasive action or turn vehicle and/or slow down to avoid the accident or lessen the impact;
• handcuffing [the decedent] in the backseat, when she did not appear to be under arrest or need to be handcuffed;
• improperly or negligently providing police protection as required by a municipality under the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code and/or the Government Code; [and]
• failing to follow policies and procedures regarding use of seatbelts.

They asserted that Gonzales's negligence proximately caused the decedent's death and the City is vicariously liable for Gonzales's negligence.

*382The Nicolais asserted that the City, pursuant to the Texas Tort Claims Act ("TTCA"),4 waived its governmental immunity the trial court has subject-matter jurisdiction over their claims. Specifically, the TTCA waives immunity for a death caused by the operation or use of a motor vehicle5 ; death caused by the use of tangible personal property, i.e., handcuffs and a seat belt6 ; and damages arising from a municipality's "governmental functions," including police "protection and control."7

The City filed an answer, generally denying the allegations, and a plea to the jurisdiction, arguing that the trial court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over the Nicolais' claims because they had not presented jurisdictional evidence raising a fact issue on any of their asserted waivers of the City's immunity.

The City asserted that at 2:00 a.m. on October 2, 2013, Officer Gonzales, while on patrol, received a call from Ellington Field security about a suspected intoxicated driver. When she arrived, Gonzales found the decedent sitting on a curb next to her car. The decedent, who appeared to be intoxicated, was unable to stand without falling. Gonzales placed her in handcuffs and into the back seat of the patrol car in order to take her to the Houston Sobering Center, located on Chenevert Street. According to an HPD investigation, the decedent "was not seat belted in the back of the patrol vehicle."

The City further asserted that as Officer Gonzales drove her patrol car north on Chartres Street and crossed the intersection at Texas Avenue, where she had a green light, the car driven by Moser, who had failed to stop at a red light, "violently" struck the patrol car on its left side. Law enforcement officers took Moser, who admitted at the scene that she had previously consumed "6-7 shots of alcohol" and "shouldn't have been driving," to a hospital, where personnel measured her blood-alcohol concentration at 0.189 grams. Moser later pleaded guilty to the offense of intoxication manslaughter, and a court found her guilty and assessed her punishment at confinement for eight years.

The City argued that it, under the TTCA, did not waive its immunity based on Officer Gonzales's use or operation of a motor vehicle because the undisputed evidence shows that Moser caused the collision. It also argued that it did not waive its immunity on the ground that Gonzales had failed to secure the decedent with a seat belt because an allegation of "non-use" cannot support a waiver based on the "use" of tangible personal property under the TTCA. Further, the use of handcuffs "falls within a well-recognized exception to the waivers set forth" in the TTCA for intentional torts. And the City asserted that even if one of the waivers of immunity under the TTCA applies to the Nicolais' claims, it nevertheless retained its immunity pursuant to the TTCA "Exclusions and Exceptions" for liability for intentional torts committed by third parties8 and claims arising from a failure to provide, or the method of providing, police protection.9

To its plea, the City attached the Nicolais' Seventh Amended Petition; a "Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report"; the judgment of conviction against Moser; an excerpt of the deposition of Officer Gonzales;

*383and an HPD "General Order No. 500-11," which provides that an officer "transporting publicly intoxicated individuals ... shall handcuff" the individuals. The City also attached an HPD "Current Information (Offense) Report," which states that the decedent "was not seat-belted" in Officer Gonzales's patrol car while being transported to the Sobering Center. After being struck by Moser, the patrol car "spun out" and struck a tree, "causing the [decedent] to be ejected out the rear window" and "thrown approximately 40-50 feet from the patrol car." She died minutes later.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Harris County, Texas v. Owen Anderson
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
Harris County v. Cynthia McFarland
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
Brazoria County v. Tracy Read
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
Pena v. Madrid
S.D. Texas, 2024
City of Houston v. John Anthony Branch
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
City of Baytown v. Fabio Fernandes
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Jacqueline M Mouton v. CCMSI
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
the City of Austin v. Irene Quinlan
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2022
City of Houston v. Varun Lal
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
539 S.W.3d 378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-hous-v-nicolai-texapp-2017.