University of Houston v. Clark

38 S.W.3d 578, 2000 WL 33254402
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 12, 2000
Docket98-1080, 99-0326
StatusPublished
Cited by259 cases

This text of 38 S.W.3d 578 (University of Houston v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
University of Houston v. Clark, 38 S.W.3d 578, 2000 WL 33254402 (Tex. 2000).

Opinions

Justice BAKER

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which Chief Justice PHILLIPS, Justice HECHT, Justice OWEN, Justice ABBOTT, Justice HANKINSON, and Justice GONZALES joined.

These consolidated cases present two issues: (1) whether the good faith factors in Wadewitz v. Montgomery, 951 S.W.2d 464 (Tex.1997), an emergency response case, apply in a police pursuit case; and (2) whether the defendants in these consolidated cases have established good faith as a matter of law.

We hold that the Wadewitz factors apply to good faith determinations in police pursuit cases. In University of Houston v. Clark, we conclude that Sergeant Williams and Officer Stewart established good faith as a matter of law. Therefore, we reverse the court of appeal’s judgment on the good faith issue. Because the court of appeals did not consider whether Officer Stewart was performing a ministerial or discretionary function, we remand the case to the court of appeals to determine that issue. In Ener v. Thomas, we conclude that Deputy Constable Ener did not establish good faith as a matter of law, and therefore we affirm the court of appeals’ judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A Clark

At about 2:00 a.m. one morning, Kevin Thomas was involved in a fist fight on the University of Houston campus. University of Houston police officers arrived at the scene. Thomas got into his jeep and the officers told Thomas not to leave the scene. But before the officers could identify him, Thomas fled. As Thomas left campus, Sergeant Jon Williams turned his patrol car sideways to try to stop Thomas, but Thomas drove his jeep around Williams’ car. Williams pursued Thomas. Williams then saw another University of Houston patrol car in position to intercept Thomas. Williams radioed that car’s driver, Officer Matthew Stewart, to stop [580]*580Thomas. Stewart activated his lights and siren and pursued Thomas. During the chase, Thomas ran a red light and collided with another vehicle, injuring Demetria Clark.

Clark sued Williams, Stewart, and the University of Houston for negligence, negligence per se, and civil rights violations.1 Williams and Stewart moved for summary judgment based on official immunity. The University of Houston moved for summary judgment based on sovereign immunity, relying on Williams’ and Stewart’s official immunity. The trial court granted summary judgment for the defendants, and Clark appealed.

On appeal, Clark did not dispute that Williams and Stewart were acting within the scope of their authority, but claimed that they were not acting in good faith and that Stewart was performing a ministerial rather than discretionary task in pursuing Thomas. The court of appeals reversed the trial court’s judgment on the ground that Williams and Stewart did not conclusively establish that they pm-sued Thomas in good faith. 979 S.W.2d 707. Accordingly, the court of appeals did not consider whether Stewart was functioning in a ministerial or discretionary capacity, and we’ do not consider that issue here.

B. Ener

Ener also involves an early morning police pursuit. Steven Gary Ener, a Harris County Deputy Constable, was on patrol. According to the plaintiffs’ response to the motion for summary judgment, Ener had a civilian passenger, Francis G. Thomas, Jr., riding with him, in violation of Harris County Constable policies. Ener observed a speeding car, which Ener’s radar indicated was going 71 miles per hour in a 55 mile-per-hour zone. Ener pursued the car and, at an intersection, Ener collided with another car. As a result, Thomas and John Alexander Roarke suffered injuries. According to the plaintiffs’ summary judgment response, Ener does not remember anything from the time he was about a block from the intersection where the collision occurred until he woke up in the hospital. Thomas and Roarke sued Ener and Harris County for negligence and gross negligence. Ener moved for summary judgment based on official immunity and Harris County moved for summary judgment based on sovereign immunity, relying on Ener’s official immunity. The trial court denied summary judgment. The court of appeals affirmed, holding that Ener did not establish good faith as a matter of law. 20 S.W.3d 712.

II. APPLICABLE LAW

Official immunity is an affirmative defense that protects government employees from personal liability. See City of Lancaster v. Chambers, 883 S.W.2d 650, 653 (Tex.1994). When official immunity shields a governmental employee from liability, sovereign immunity shields the governmental employer from vicarious liability. See DeWitt v. Harris County, 904 S.W.2d 650, 653 (Tex.1995). A governmental employee is entitled to official immunity: (1) for the performance of discretionary duties; (2) within the scope of the employee’s authority; (3) provided the employee acts in good faith. See Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 653. Because official immunity is an affirmative defense, to obtain summary judgment on official immunity, the governmental employee must conclusively prove each element of the defense. See Kassen v. Hatley, 887 S.W.2d 4, 8-9 (Tex.1994).

In Chambers, we formulated a test for official immunity’s good faith element in police pursuit cases. See Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 656. In doing so, we recognized the competing interests involved in good faith cases: (1) the injustice of imposing liability on an officer whose job requires him to exercise discretion and the danger that such liability will deter his willingness to exercise that discretion for the public [581]*581good; and (2) the rights of the public who are affected by an officer’s bad faith acts. See Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 656. To accommodate these competing interests, we constructed a test for good faith that is analogous to the abuse of discretion standard of review. See Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 657, n. 7. Under this test, an officer acts in bad faith only if he could not have reasonably reached the decision in question. See Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 657 n. 7 (citing Landry v. Travelers Ins. Co., 458 S.W.2d 649, 651 (Tex.1970) (holding that abuse of discretion is shown only if a trial court could not have reasonably reached the decision in question)).

Thus, we held that to obtain summary judgment on good faith in a pursuit case, a police officer must prove that a reasonably prudent officer, under the same or similar circumstances, could have believed that the need to immediately apprehend the suspect outweighed a clear risk of harm to the public in continuing the pursuit. See Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 656-57. An officer does not have to prove that it would have been unreasonable to stop the pursuit or that all reasonably prudent officers would have continued the pursuit. See Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 656. Instead, the officer must prove only that a reasonably prudent officer

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38 S.W.3d 578, 2000 WL 33254402, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/university-of-houston-v-clark-tex-2000.