Thomas W. Everett v. Cleveland Independent School District

Texas Court of Appeals, 9th District (Beaumont)·Decided July 23, 2026·No. 09-25-00142-CV·Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

NO. 09-25-00142-CV

THOMAS W. EVERETT, Appellant V.

CLEVELAND INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee

On Appeal from the 253rd District Court Liberty County, Texas

Trial Cause No. 24-DC-CV-01313

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Pro se Appellant Thomas W. Everett (“Appellant” or “Everett”) appeals from the trial court’s final judgment granting Cleveland Independent School District’s (“Appellee” or “CISD”) plea to the jurisdiction and dismissing with prejudice Everett’s claims against CISD. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Background

Everett’s Live Petition After Everett filed his pro se Original Petition 1 and pro se First Amended Petition, and after CISD filed its Original Answer, Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Claims Against Individual Defendants and Plea to the Jurisdiction, First Amended Answer2, and Plea to the Jurisdiction, Everett filed a pro se Second Amended Petition 3, which was the live petition (the “Petition”). The Defendant CISD then filed its First Amended Plea to the Jurisdiction.

In the Petition, Everett alleges that he brings the suit against his former employer, CISD, “for its wrongful and unlawful conduct that led to his forced resignation, subsequent employment retaliation, and severe financial and emotional distress.” Everrett alleges the following facts:

A. Plaintiff was employed by CISD and was wrongfully forced to resign under duress.

B. Plaintiff was presented with a Gag Order and pressured to sign it without review.

C. Upon refusal to sign, Plaintiff was informed that he could not continue employment with CISD.

1 In Everett’s Original Petition, he also named certain individuals employed with CISD as defendants. In his amended petitions, he removed the individuals as defendants and only named CISD as a defendant.

2 In its First Amended Answer, CISD generally denied Everett’s claims and asserted various affirmative defenses including governmental immunity.

3 An amended petition takes the place of and completely supersedes the preceding petition. See Chamberlain v. McReight, 713 S.W.2d 372, 373-74 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 1986, writ ref’d n.r.e.) (citing Tex. R. Civ. P. 65).

D. Plaintiff applied for substitute teaching but was unlawfully blocked from employment opportunities.

E. Plaintiff was initially awarded unemployment benefits, but CISD appealed on the final day and won, resulting in an unjust repayment demand of approximately $6,363.00.

F. Plaintiff discovered that coworkers’ statements were falsified, and misleading information was provided by HR.

G. Plaintiff suffered severe medical issues, including cardiovascular complications, due to the stress caused by Defendant’s actions, incurring medical expenses totaling $27,800.

H. Without Plaintiff’s knowledge, CISD fraudulently filed a worker’s compensation claim on his behalf, later revealed through misdirected correspondence.

I. Defendant induced Plaintiff to take college courses under the pretense of rehire but later denied him employment despite completion.

J. Defendant’s HR Director, Rodrigo Cano, falsely claimed that the complaint originated from Cypress Fairbanks School District. This statement was proven untrue during the Texas Workforce Commission Hearing.

K. During the unemployment hearing, the Defendant introduced two documents allegedly written by the trainer. These documents were signed under coercion by two individuals who did not author them, and the information contained within was crossed and inconsistent.

Everett alleges the following causes of action against CISD: (1) wrongful termination under Sabine Pilot; (2) defamation because CISD damaged his reputation by falsely stating that Everett engaged in misconduct; (3) fraudulent misrepresentation because CISD knowingly provided a false statement to harm Everett; (4) intentional infliction of emotional distress because CISD’s outrageous conduct caused Everett severe emotional distress; (5) tortious interference with employment because CISD’s false statements and retaliation interfered with Everett’s employment opportunities; and (6) CISD’s retaliatory actions violated the

Texas Whistleblower Act. In the Petition, Everett contends that CISD waived its governmental immunity and that his Petition “directly addresses and refutes the governmental immunity argument raised in the Defendant’s plea to the Jurisdiction.” CISD’s First Amended Plea to the Jurisdiction CISD filed it First Amended Plea to the Jurisdiction alleging that although Everett amended his petition to better identify his claims, CISD is “indisputably entitled” to dismissal of Everett’s lawsuit based on governmental immunity from suit and the trial court should dismiss the case with prejudice “due to an incurable lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.” According to CISD’s plea, CISD is immune from suit regarding Everett’s wrongful termination claims because there (1) is no waiver of governmental immunity for Everett’s claim of “wrongful termination in violation of public policy[]” and the Sabine Pilot claim is barred due to CISD’s governmental immunity; (2) the Harris and Gratton federal cases cited by Everett do not analyze governmental immunity under Texas law and lack any meaningful application to CISD’s jurisdictional challenge; (3) Everett has not presented the trial court with a clear and unambiguous statute that waives the District’s governmental immunity from suit and liability; (4) Everett has not pled a viable cause of action under Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code and has failed to plead and prove that he exhausted his administrative remedies under that chapter; (5) CISD is immune from all common law tort claims that do not involve the negligent use or operation of a

motor-driven vehicle; and (6) Everett failed to initiate his administrative remedies under the Texas Whistleblower Act and fails to plead the requisite jurisdictional elements of a viable Whistleblower claim. Final Judgment and Everett’s Appeal After a hearing, the trial court signed a final judgment granting CISD’s First Amended Plea to the Jurisdiction and dismissing with prejudice Everett’s claims against CISD “due to an incurable lack of subject-matter jurisdiction based upon Cleveland ISD’s governmental immunity from suit and liability.” Everett timely appealed.

Standard of Review and Governmental Immunity A plea to the jurisdiction is a dilatory plea that seeks dismissal of a case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Harris Cnty. v. Sykes, 136 S.W.3d 635, 638 (Tex. 2004). The purpose of a plea to the jurisdiction is to defeat a cause of action without regard to whether the claim has merit. Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 554 (Tex. 2000). Subject matter jurisdiction is essential to the court’s authority to decide a case and is never presumed and cannot be waived. Tex. Ass’n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 443-44 (Tex. 1993). A party asserting governmental immunity to suit challenges the trial court’s jurisdiction. See State v. Holland, 221 S.W.3d 639, 642 (Tex. 2007). A motion or plea asserting such

immunity involves a question of law that we review de novo. Harris Cnty. Hosp. Dist. v. Tomball Reg’l Hosp., 283 S.W.3d 838, 842 (Tex. 2009).

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