City of Houston v. Tyra

786 S.W.2d 457, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 325, 1990 WL 12236
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 15, 1990
DocketNo. A14-88-463-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 786 S.W.2d 457 (City of Houston v. Tyra) 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 Houston v. Tyra, 786 S.W.2d 457, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 325, 1990 WL 12236 (Tex. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

JUNELL, Justice.

This is an appeal by the City of Houston from a final judgment permanently enjoining and restraining the Fire Chief from implementing or applying Houston Fire Department Order No. 4 (“Order No. 4”), a procedure which would test the ability of each firefighter to perform job related tasks within a prescribed period of time. The city brings two points of error alleging: (1) no evidence and/or insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s finding that the time limit imposed by Order No. 4 is arbitrary and unreasonable; and (2) that the trial court erred in finding that the time limit for completing the performance test was arbitrary and unreasonable because in so doing the trial court substituted its judgment for that of the Fire Chief. Appellee brings a cross-point alleging the injunctive relief granted should have found Order No. 4 in conflict with civil service rules governing suspension or removal of public employees. We reverse and render.

The Chief of the City of Houston Fire Department promulgated Order No. 4 requiring all fire department personnel involved in fire suppression activities to take a test involving eight tasks (or “evolutions”) commonly performed by firefighters at sites of typical fires. Not all the tasks are performed at all fires. The purpose of the test was to determine whether individual firemen were capable of performing with a high degree of professional skill the strenuous tasks required of them when fighting fires. Firemen were subject to termination upon continuing to fail the test after taking it six times.

Appellees are Houston firemen who brought suit to enjoin the fire chief from implementing Order No. 4, claiming the test needlessly places firemen in substantial risk of physical injury, particularly cardiac arrest; that blood pressure standards required in advance of the test were arbitrarily and capriciously set and discriminated against Black people; and that the order was an attempt to circumvent Texas civil service law. None of the pleadings challenged the approximate 5 minute time period within which the tasks would have to be performed by personnel taking the test.

Appellees’ cross-point asserts that Order No. 4 conflicts with an alleged exclusive list of grounds found in the Local Govern[459]*459ment Code for removal or suspension of civil service employees, claiming that none of the twelve includes the failure to pass a performance test of the type prescribed by Order No. 4 at issue here.

There was evidence that considerable time, thought, analysis, debate and judgment went into the selection of a time limitation for performing the tasks related to Order No. 4.

There was testimony to show a reasonable amount of time would be between 5 minutes and 8 minutes, including the testimony of Fire Chief Clayton who observed that the most critical time at the scene of a typical fire is the first five minutes after firefighters arrive.

To aid in the selection of the time standard ultimately chosen, a cross-section of about 100 firemen of all ages, job descriptions and longevity with the fire department were tested on the eight evolutions. Statistics were assembled from that sampling after deleting data related to the slowest 10 percent of the participants as well as the fastest 10 percent. The score at the mid point of the remaining array of scores was 5 minutes and 14 seconds. The simple average was 5 minutes and 30 seconds. The standard was finally set at 5 minutes and 15 seconds, plus an added allowance for each participant of one second for each year of past service with the Houston Fire Department.

The trial court witnessed a video tape in which a 45 year-old fire department training officer performed the eight tasks in 4 minutes and 43 seconds.

The trial court permanently enjoined the City, the Mayor, and the Fire Chief (and their employees and agents) from implementing or applying Order No. 4.

The final judgment of the trial court contains the following findings:

The Court, having heard the testimony and examined the proofs offered by the respective parties, finds that a permanent injunction should be granted for the following reasons:
(1) The individual evolutions indicated or called for in the Number 4-Multiple Task Performance Policy of the Houston Fire Department are job related in so far as they reflect the normal tasks of a firefighter.
(2) The time limitation, five minutes and seventeen [sic] seconds, however, is not job related.
(3) The imposition of that time limitation is arbitrary and unreasonable.
(4) Such a time limitation changes the Number 4-Multiple Task Performance Policy to an invalidated physical fitness test.
(5) Although there may be a need for a test involving multiple tasks as outlined to evaluate reasonably the fitness and knowledge of employees of the fire department, the Number 4-Multiple Task Performance Policy in its current form is unreasonable and should be permanently enjoined from implementation.
(6) The evidence indicates that seven to eight minutes would be a reasonable time limitation for the test as outlined.

We presume the trial court’s ruling means that if Order No. 4 were to be implemented after modification to a standard of seven or eight minutes, no further injunction would issue from that court.

We address appellant’s points of error by reference to a prior case in which this court dissolved an injunction found to be improper. Two reasons were given:

First, a district court has very limited authority to substitute its judgment for the discretionary acts of public officials.
Second, the court improperly directed a governing body in a specific manner of performing an action.

City of Houston v. Houston Police Officers Ass’n, 715 S.W.2d 145 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1986, no writ).

In that case, the police officers’ association had been granted relief from the city’s imposition of a new type of sidearm hoi-[460]*460ster1. The principles found in that opinion are worthy of paraphrase here. Fundamental to our system of government is the doctrine of separation of powers. The city council has empowered the Houston Fire Department to provide fire protection services to the residents of the city. A court has no right to substitute its judgment and discretion for that of the governing body upon which the law visits the primary power and duty to act, unless that body acts illegally, unreasonably, or arbitrarily. In those latter circumstances, a court of competent jurisdiction may so adjudge, but must stop there. City of Shoreacres v. State of Texas, 582 S.W.2d 211, 214 (Tex.Civ.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1979, writ ref d n.r.e.). The one attacking the city’s action has the extraordinary burden to show that “no conclusive, or even controversial or issuable, facts or conditions” exist that would authorize the city’s exercise of the discretion confided to it. City of Waxahachie v. Watkins, 154 Tex.

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Related

Tyra v. City of Houston
822 S.W.2d 626 (Texas Supreme Court, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
786 S.W.2d 457, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 325, 1990 WL 12236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-houston-v-tyra-texapp-1990.