Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Community Justice Assistance Division and Nueces County Community Supervisions and Corrections Department v. Luzelma Campos

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 11, 2011
Docket13-10-00594-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Community Justice Assistance Division and Nueces County Community Supervisions and Corrections Department v. Luzelma Campos (Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Community Justice Assistance Division and Nueces County Community Supervisions and Corrections Department v. Luzelma Campos) 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.

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Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Community Justice Assistance Division and Nueces County Community Supervisions and Corrections Department v. Luzelma Campos, (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

NUMBER 13-10-00594-CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTIEDINBURG

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL

JUSTICE-COMMUNITY JUSTICE

ASSISTANCE DIVISION AND NUECES

COUNTY COMMUNITY SUPERVISION AND

CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT,                                                        Appellants,

v.

LUZELMA CAMPOS, ET AL.,                                                      Appellees.

On appeal from the 319th District Court

of Nueces County, Texas.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Rodriguez and Garza

Memorandum Opinion by Justice Garza

Appellants, the Community Justice Assistance Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (“CJAD”) and the Nueces County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (“CSCD”), appeal the trial court’s order (1) denying a plea to the jurisdiction filed by appellees Luzelma Campos, Betty Jo Gonzalez, and Misty Valero, and (2) striking the affidavit of CJAD Director Carey Welebob.  By seven issues, appellants argue that the trial court erred in determining it had jurisdiction over the claims filed under the Texas Tort Claims Act (“TTCA”).  See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. §§ 101.001-.109 (West 2011).  We affirm in part and reverse and render in part.

I.  Background

The underlying suit was brought by appellees against CJAD, CSCD, Nueces County, the Nueces County Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (“SATF”), and two SATF guards, Anthony Allen and Cordell Hayes.[1]  In their petition, appellees claimed that the guards sexually harassed and sexually assaulted them “beginning in or about April, 1999,” while they were incarcerated at SATF.  Appellees asserted that their civil rights had been violated, see 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006), and asserted claims under the TTCA.  Appellees alleged that the TTCA waived sovereign immunity for their claims, which were purportedly based on a premises defect, the use of tangible personal property, and negligent hiring, training, and supervision.  See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 101.021(2) (stating that a government unit is liable for injury “caused by a condition or use of tangible personal or real property”); id. § 101.022 (establishing a governmental unit’s duty with respect to premises defects claims); id. § 101.025(a) (“Sovereign immunity to suit is waived and abolished to the extent of liability created by this chapter.”).

Nueces County filed a plea to the jurisdiction, which the trial court granted.  However, we reversed, holding that:  (1) appellees’ premises defect theory was sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the trial court; and (2) appellees must be permitted to replead their allegations regarding the use of tangible personal property and negligent hiring, training and supervision.  Campos v. Nueces County (Campos I), 162 S.W.3d 778, 786–88 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2005, pet. denied).  On remand to the trial court, appellees filed an amended petition, settled their claims with Nueces County, and dropped their claim against SATF.  Appellants and the SATF guards remained as defendants.  Appellants filed their own plea to the jurisdiction, and the trial court granted that plea on November 2, 2006.  Again, we reversed the trial court’s judgment as to the claims asserted under the TTCA.  Campos v. Tex. Dep’t of Criminal Justice (Campos II), No. 13-08-00269-CV, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 8162, at *8-14 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi Oct. 22, 2009, no pet.) (mem. op.).  We held, as in Campos I, that:  (1) appellees’ pleadings were sufficient to allege a premises defect claim and so the trial court had jurisdiction over that claim; and (2) appellees should again be permitted to replead under their other theories because their “ability to state a claim” had been “hampered by the lack of discovery” in the case up to that point.  Id. at *8-12.  However, we affirmed the trial court’s dismissal as to appellees’ section 1983 claims.  Id. at *14-22.

On August 30, 2010, appellants filed another plea to the jurisdiction.  At a hearing on October 4, 2010, the trial court denied the plea and struck an affidavit filed by appellants authored by Welebob, CJAD’s director.  This appeal ensued.

II.  Standard of Review

            A plea to the jurisdiction is a dilatory plea used to defeat a cause of action without regard to whether the claims asserted have merit.  Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 554 (Tex. 2000).  The plea challenges the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction.  Id.; see Tex. Dep’t of Transp. v. Jones, 8 S.W.3d 636, 638 (Tex. 1999).  Whether a trial court has subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law that we review de novo.  Tex. Dep’t of Parks & Wildlife v. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d 217, 226 (Tex. 2004); Tex. Natural Res. Conservation Comm’n v. IT-Davy, 74 S.W.3d 849, 855 (Tex. 2002).

            The plaintiff has the burden to plead facts affirmatively showing that the trial court has jurisdiction.  Tex. Ass’n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 446 (Tex. 1993); City of Fort Worth v. Davidsaver, 320 S.W.3d 467, 473 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2010, no pet.).  We construe the pleadings liberally in favor of the pleader, look to the pleader’s intent, and accept as true the factual allegations in the pleadings.  See Miranda, 133 S.W.3d at 226, 228; City of Fort Worth v. Crockett, 142 S.W.3d 550, 552 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2004, pet. denied).  If a plea to the jurisdiction challenges the existence of jurisdictional facts, we consider relevant evidence submitted by the parties when necessary to resolve the jurisdictional issues raised, as the trial court is required to do, even those facts which may implicate the merits of the cause of action.  Miranda, 133 S.W.3d at 227; Blue

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Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Community Justice Assistance Division and Nueces County Community Supervisions and Corrections Department v. Luzelma Campos, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-department-of-criminal-justice-community-justice-assistance-texapp-2011.