Court Opinion

ID: 9765849
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:21:52.281345+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:16.194433
License: Public Domain

LEVY, Justice,
concurring.
Fully concurring in the majority opinion of Mr. Justice Doyle, I wish to add a few thoughts that have been provoked by the circumstances of this case.
While it may be arguable that a governmental unit cannot be estopped from raising a substantive defense, it is quite clear and equitable that it may be estopped from raising procedural defenses. Roberts v. Haltom City, 543 S.W.2d 75 (Tex.1976); City of Houston v. Black, 571 S.W.2d 496 (Tex.1978). Estoppel applies, certainly, to the plea of limitations. Gibson v. John D. Campbell & Co., 624 S.W.2d 728, 733 (Tex.Civ.App.—Fort Worth 1981, no writ); Mandola v. Mariotti, 557 S.W.2d 350, 351-2 (Tex.Civ.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1977, writ ref’d n.r.e.).
To me, it is simply inappropriate, bordering on the ignoble, for government officials to play a “shell game” with citizen litigants as has been done herein. Surely a governmental body should have a higher standard of conduct than that which prevails in the marketplace, but its invocation of Art. 5526 after expiration of the two-year statute of limitations would tend to indicate that the County Attorney’s office has a different set of priorities. Essentially, “estoppel” is an equitable, not legal, principle and in this case it requires a governmental unit to speak where in good conscience and equity it ought to speak. Cf. Artico-Bell Corporation v. City of Temple, 616 S.W.2d 190 (Tex.1981).
The Harris County Attorney’s office represents no ordinary party to a controversy, but a client whose chief business is to establish justice, not to achieve victory.
To paraphrase a statement from the United States Department of Justice, the State of Texas wins its point in the courts whenever justice is done one of its citizens.1

. “CITIZEN” in this particular context is meant to include, of course, any person who resides in this State.