Court Opinion

ID: 9690645
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 19:29:48.149237+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:00.650983
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by:
CATHERINE STONE, Justice.
Because I believe that appellants have shown a justiciable interest in enforcing statutory procedures for appointment of new civil service employees, I dissent.
To become a fire fighter with the San Antonio Fire Department, all applicants must take a qualifying entrance examination. See Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. § 143.025 (Vernon 1999). An eligibility list is created from the results of the examination. See Tex Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. § 143.025(b). Under section 143.026, as vacancies arise, the chief executive “shall appoint the person having the highest grade unless there is a valid reason why the person having the second or third highest grade should be appointed.” Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. 143.026(b) (Vernon 1999). The person appointed must serve a one year probationary period “after which the person automatically becomes a full-*573fledged civil service employee with full civil service protection.” Klinger v. City of San Angelo, 902 S.W.2d 669, 672 (Tex.App.—Austin 1995, writ denied). For purposes of appointments, eligibility lists expire at the end of one year. Firemen’s & Policemen’s Civil Service Commission v. Williams, 531 S.W.2d 327, 328 (Tex.1975).
The majority holds that once the list expires, a non-eivil service employee cannot bring suit challenging compliance with section 143.026. According to the majority, after the eligibility list expires, a person whose name appears on a beginning position eligibility list cannot invoke the jurisdiction of the trial court to complain of a City’s failure to comply with the Act’s provisions regarding the selection of applicants to beginning positions.
There is nothing in the plain language of the statute, case law, the statute of limitations, or any other equitable doctrine, which supports limiting the time when a plaintiff can bring suit to the period preceding the expiration of the eligibility list. While the purpose of creating this section of the Local Government Code is to protect civil service employees, this statute, by its very nature, also involves the appointment of non-eivil service employees. See Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. § 143.001 (Vernon 1999). The statute provides the method by which persons may be selected to serve a probationary period leading into civil service status. See id. § 143.026(b). While civil service employees enjoy a protected status, this fact alone does not mean that other persons directly affected by the statute may not seek to enforce the provision directly applicable to them after the eligibility list has expired. See Associated General Contractors of Texas, Inc. v. City of Corpus Christi, 694 S.W.2d 581, 581-82 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1985, no writ) (noting that person has standing to sue if he has sustained some direct injury as result of wrongful act of which he complains). The plain language of the statute in no way indicates that once the eligibility list expires, a non-civil service employee may not bring suit. The statute provides a specific procedure for appointment of beginning employees; under the majority’s holding, cities need not worry about complying with the statute because they are not subject to redress. For these reasons, I dissent.