Court Opinion

ID: 9636305
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 14:23:34.05931+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:44.053287
License: Public Domain

RICHARD H. EDELMAN, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority opinion concludes, in part, that the faculty advisors were not “employees” of Texas A & M University (“A & M”), within the meaning of section 101.001(2) of the Texas Tort Claims Act, because, in working with the Drama Club, they were unpaid volunteers and thus not in the “paid service” of the University. In Dillard, which the majority opinion cites as its authority for this conclusion, Harris County was sued for the conduct of a “reserve” deputy sheriff who was involved in an automobile collision. See Harris County v. Dillard, 883 S.W.2d 166, 167 (Tex.1994). The Texas Supreme Court held that the deputy was not in the paid service of Harris County, and thus not an “employee” under the Tort Claims Act, because he was solely a volunteer reserve deputy who was not being paid by the County at all. See id.
By contrast, in this case, as the majority opinion correctly states, the evidence is undisputed that the faculty advisors were paid employees of the University for their academic positions. Thus, there is no evidence that the faculty advisors were unpaid by A & M but only that they received no additional compensation for also serving voluntarily as faculty advisors for the Drama Club. The evidence indicates that student organizations were required to have faculty advisors and, thus, that a person was eligible to hold such a position only by virtue of his employment as a faculty member. The evidence further reflects that, although faculty members were not required to serve as faculty advisors, doing so gave them credit for the “community service aspect” of their faculty position. Moreover, the faculty advisors were responsible for ensuring that students in the Drama Club complied with University regulations. Under these circumstances, I would hold that the faculty advisors, who were employed and paid by A & M as faculty members and who, when serving as faculty advisors, were acting not only in their capacities as faculty members but also in furtherance thereof, were no less in the “paid service” of A & M with regard to that aspect of their employment merely because they received no additional compensation for it. Therefore, I would not reverse the judgment on the ground that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the jury’s findings that the faculty advisors were employees.