Tinabel Longoria v. Nueces County Civil Service Commission

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: July 15, 2004
• Docket: 13-03-00316-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

NUMBER 13-03-316-CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG

___________________________________________________________________

TINABEL LONGORIA, Appellant,

v.

NUECES COUNTY CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, Appellee.

___________________________________________________________________

On appeal from the 319th District Court

of Nueces County, Texas.

__________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Yañez, Rodriguez, and Garza

Memorandum Opinion by Justice Rodriguez

This is an appeal from the trial court's order granting a no evidence summary judgment in favor of appellee, the Nueces County Civil Service Commission (the Commission). Appellant, Tinabel Longoria, raises five issues on appeal. We vacate the trial court's judgment and dismiss for want of jurisdiction.

I. FACTS

As this is a memorandum opinion and the parties are familiar with the facts, we will not recite them here except as necessary to advise the parties of the Court's decision and the basic reasons for it. See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.

II. JURISDICTION

By her first issue, appellant contends the trial court erred in ruling that it did not have jurisdiction. While there is nothing in the record which reflects that the trial court made such a ruling, ⁽¹⁾ we will nonetheless address the issue of jurisdiction sua sponte. See Ward v. Malone, 115 S.W.3d 267, 269 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2003, no pet.) (raising issue of subject matter jurisdiction sua sponte and addressing it for the first time on appeal).

The right to appeal the decision of an administrative agency is a statutory right. Bouldin v. Bexar County Sheriff's Civil Serv. Comm'n, 12 S.W.3d 527, 529 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 1999, no pet.). Where the Legislature has created a right to appeal from an administrative decision, the applicable statutory provisions are mandatory and exclusive and must be complied with fully or the action is not maintainable for lack of jurisdiction. Id. In this case, appellant sought review of the Commission's decision under section 158.012(a) of the local government code. ⁽²⁾ Section 158.012 allows an employee to appeal a decision of the Commission to a district court, if the Commission's final decision was demotion, suspension, or removal. Alba v. Nueces County Sheriff's Dep't, 89 S.W.3d 132, 133 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2002, pet. denied). However, the Commission's final decision in this case was a dismissal of appellant's grievance for failing to comply with the civil service rules and timeline. In addressing a similar issue, this Court stated, "we presume the words 'demoted,' 'suspended,' and 'removed' were intended to have meaning and purpose. Their inclusion, therefore, clearly eliminates the possibility that all orders from the Commission are appealable to the district court." Id. at 134.

Because the Commission's final decision did not demote, suspend, or remove appellant from her employment, we find that appellant's claim does not fall within section 158.012(a), and, therefore, appellant did not have statutory authorization to appeal the Commission's decision. Thus, the trial court lacked jurisdiction over appellant's claim. Similarly, this Court lacks jurisdiction to address this appeal. See Dallas County Appraisal Dist. v. Funds Recovery, Inc., 887 S.W.2d 465, 471 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1994, writ denied).

III. CONCLUSION

Accordingly, we vacate the trial court's judgment and dismiss the cause for want of jurisdiction.

NELDA V. RODRIGUEZ

Justice

Memorandum Opinion delivered and

filed this 15th day of July, 2004.

1.

The record shows that appellee filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, a motion for no evidence summary judgment, and a motion for summary judgment. The trial court's order granted only appellee's no evidence summary judgment motion and did not address jurisdiction.

2.

Section 158.012(a) provides that "a county employee who, on a final decision by the commission, is demoted, suspended, or removed from the employee's position may appeal the decision by filing a petition in a district court in the county within 30 days after the date of the decision." Tex. Loc. Gov't Code Ann. § 158.012(a) (Vernon 1999).