Court Opinion

ID: 9863302
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 03:22:26.767127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:40:50.576855
License: Public Domain

McDONALD, Chief Justice.
This is a venue case involving Subdivision 9 of Article 1995, R.C.S., Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 1995, subd. 9. Parties will be referred to as in the Trial Court. Plaintiffs, Melvin Fowler and 78 other crop-owners in Collin County, originally filed this suit against the Dallas County Flood Control District and its directors individually to recover damages to their respective cotton crops allegedly resulting from the use of a harmone type herbicide, 2-4-D, by the Dallas County Flood Control District. Plaintiffs allege that the District released the 2-4-D within the confines of the flood-way between the levees of said District, all of said spraying operations having been initiated in Dallas County, Texas. By amended petition plaintiffs also seek recovery against the City and County of Dallas Levee Improvement District, and its directors individually, and the Dallas County Levee Improvement District No. 5, and its directors individually. Plaintiffs allege that the Dallas County Flood Control District entered into a written contract with the other two Levee Districts by virtue of which contract it became the agent of the other two Levee Districts in spraying and maintaining the properties in which the spraying was conducted.
Plaintiffs alleged that the Dallas County Flood Control District, individually and as agent for the other two Levee Districts, was negligent in the use of the 2-A — D and as a result of such negligence, the vapors of the spray came to rest on their growing cotton crops in Collin County, causing extensive damage, their allegations being in part as follows:

"That the defendants, in' releasing, expelling, discharging, and forcing the potent and dangerous chemical herbicide into the air currents where it could and would be carried by said air currents into plaintiffs’ fields and onto plaintiffs’ cotton plants, thereby invading and trespassing on plaintiffs’ fields and cotton crop, and violating his right to freedom from such trespass and invasion, thereby directly and proximately caused the damage hereinafter complained of.”

All the defendant Districts are located in Dallas County and the directors of all three Districts are residents of Dallas County, and all filed pleas o.f .privilege to be sued in Dallas County. Plaintiffs controverted the defendants’ pleas of privilege, relying on Subdivision 9 of Article 1995, R.C.S., to sustain venue in Collin County.
The record discloses that all spraying operations were initiated by defendants in Dallas County; that they were conducted, with a ground mist type sprayer and with an • airplane; that 2-4-D was applied-on some 10 different days, between 27 May and 30 *338June 1952; that 2-4 — Dis a chemical capable of drifting through air currents and capable of damaging cotton plants; that the witness Dudley, a herbicide supervisor for the State Department of Agriculture, inspected the plaintiffs’ cotton fields and that in his opinion the cotton was damaged by 2-4-D. He further testified that he determined that -this herbicide had come from spraying operations carried on by the Dallas County Flood Control District, and that his determination was based on wind direction, types of equipment and of herbicide used and through tracing of susceptible crops from the nearest point of application in the District to the nearest affected field.
The Trial Court, without a jury, overruled all defendants’ pleas of privilege to be sued in Dallas County. Defendants appeal to this court, contending that: 1) The Trial Court erred in overruling the plcás of privilege as to the 3 Flood Control and Levee Districts because the plaintiffs failed to allege and prove that defendants committed a trespass in Collin County within the meaning of Subdivision 9 of Article 1995, R.C.S.; and 2) The Trial Court erred in overruling the pleas of privilege of the directors and manager of the 3 Districts because the evidence shows conclusively that each was acting in his official capacity as director or manager' of the District concerned and not as individuals, and that as a matter of law there is no personal liability as to them.
As to defendants’ 1st contention: In order to maintain venué under Subdivision 9 of Article 1995, it is necessary for the plaintiffs to both plead and prove that a trespass was committed, and that it was committed in the county where the suit is pending. Compton v. Elliott, 126 Tex. 232, 88 S.W.2d 91; Brown Express, Inc., v. Arnold, 138 Tex. 70, 157 S.W.2d 138.
The question for determination here is whether or not defendants spraying 2-4 — D herbicide on their property in Dallas County, which spray got into the air currents and' drifted into Collin County, settling on plaintiffs’ cotton, causing damages, - constitutes a trespass in Collin County. Defendants contend: l)-that what they did was not such positive acts as to constitute a trespass, and 2) that even if it was, the act or trespass was not committed in Collin County.
Hamilton v. Jenkins, Tex.Civ.App., 235 S.W.2d 195, 196, Mand.Over., holds that where defendants piled brush stacks on land adjacent to plaintiff’s and set fire to the brush, and the heat and smoke therefrom damaged plaintiff’s cotton crop, that the defendants were guilty of a trespass and of active negligence. The defendant filed a plea of privilege to be sued in another county. The plaintiff sought to sustain venue in the county where the act occurred by virtue of Subdivision "9, Article 1995, R.C.S. The court overruled the plea of privilege, holding that "such acts as piling brush and setting it on fire are not acts of omission, but are acts of commission and constitute active negligence * * * that the defendants were guilty of a trespass * * >;• ”
In Baker v. Knight, Tex.Civ.App., 205 S.W.2d 65, this court held that the act of a nonresident defendant who fumigated a cafe with cyanide gas and the gas seeped into another portion of the building killing dogs kept therein by a veterinarian, was a trespass within exception 9 of Article 1995.
Lusk v. Onstott, Tex.Civ.App., 161 S.W.2d 819, 821, is a case in which the nonresident defendant cut a ditch on a public road releasing water on his own land and permitted it to take its natural course. The water ran onto plaintiff’s land, causing damage. The defendant, when sued, filed a plea of privilege and plaintiff sought to retain venue under Subdivision 9 to Article 1995, R.C.S. The court, in overruling the plea of privilege, held that the defendant’s action “constituted an affirmative act * * which resulted in the creation of the ditch across the road and released the water which damaged [plaintiff] * * * court below was correct in his conclusion that the act of [defendant] in digging the ditch across the road and releasing the water which .injured [plaintiff’s] land was a trespass as contemplated by Subdivision 9 of Article 1995, R.C.S.1925. The mere fact that appellant did not go upon the land of *339[plaintiff] is immaterial. The question is: Was a trespass committed by him? Many acts of trespass could be committed, even to the lands of another, without entering upon the premises, and wé think, undoubtedly, this is one of them.”
From the foregoing authorities it is clear to us that the defendants’ acts in spraying the 2-4-D are.positive acts constituting affirmative trespass. We come now to defendants’ contention that even if they be a trespass, that since the spraying operations were carried on in Dallas County that no trespass occurred or could have occurred in Collin County.
We believe that the causal connection between the affirmative act of spraying and the resulting damages to plaintiffs’ crops is sufficiently shown by the record to support the judgment of the Trial Court that a trespass in fact occurred in Collin County. The fact that the chemical released by defendants in no manner took cognizance of the Venue Statutes and passed over the county line into Collin County and damaged plaintiffs’ crops, cannot limit defendants’ liability. Defendants were the instigators of that action and weré responsible for it until it ceased. Surely it could not be contended that a defendant standing on one side of a county line and shooting a plaintiff on the other side of the county line, did not commit a trespass in the county where plaintiff stood — merely because defendant pulled the trigger of the gun in another county.
From the foregoing .we hold that the very acts committed by defendants, under the existing circumstances, are active negligence and constitute a trespass in Collin County.
We come now to consider whether the pleas of privilege of City and County of Dallas Levee Improvement District and the Dallas County Levee Improvement District No. S should have been overruled. The record shows that these two districts operate over the very same area as does the Dallas County Flood Control District. The record reflects that the spraying operations were conducted by the Dallas County Flood Control District and that a contract entered into between the 3 Districts forms the sole basis upon which liability of the 2 Levee Improvement Districts is predicated.
A close study of that contract in its entirety fails to disclose any provisions upon which a principal-agent relationship is established between the Dallas County Flood Control District and the 2 previously formed Levee Improvement Districts. In fact, the contract in Section 2 thereof specifically states that the sole discretion as to the use of all money remains in the Dallas County Flood Control District and that the 2 Levee Improvement Districts had only the right to consult with and give their viezvs to and make requests of the Dallas County Flood Control District. The foregoing not only fails to establish the principal-agent relationship but definitely negatives its- existence.
The defendants’ 1st contention is accordingly overruled as to the . Dallas County Flood Control District, but is sustained as to the Dallas County Levee Improvement District No. 5 and as to the City and County of Dallas Levee Improvement District.
The defendants’ 2nd contention is that the Trial Court erred in overruling the pleas of privilege of the Directors of the 3 Districts as individuals as well as the plea of privilege of the Manager of, the Dallas County Flood Control tfistrict. All of the individuals concerned live in Dallas County.
To sustain venue in a county other than the residence of these defendants, plaintiffs must allege and prove a cause of action against them personally. The authorities clearly and conclusively hold that members of the Board of Directors or Supervisors of a governmental agency are not personally liable for acts of commission or omission in performance of their official duties. 30 Tex.Jur. 261 says: “As a rule, municipal officers are not personally liable for acts performed within the scope of their public duties, * * * ”, Public officials are liable personally when amd only when, in the exercise of the powers con*340ferred upon them, they have acted wilfully, maliciously or when actuated by malice. Some of the authorities in keeping with the above are: Campbell v. Jones, Tex., 264 S.W.2d 425; Ross v. Gonzales, Tex.Civ.App., 29 S.W.2d 437; Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Templeman, Tex.Civ.App., 18 S.W.2d 936, 937.
In the case at bar there is no evidence that the Directors or Manager acted wilfully, maliciously or that they were actuated by malice. Indeed the Directors of the 2 Levee Improvement Districts did not even know of the spraying operation, and 2 of the Defendant Directors were not even directors at the time of the spraying operation.
• We believe that plaintiffs have failed to plead or prove a cause of action against the Directors of the 3 Districts personally or against the Manager, of the Flood Control District personally, for which reason we sustain defendants’ 2nd contention and hold that the Trial Court erred in overruling the pleas of privilege of the Directors and Manager insofar as the plaintiffs’ cause of action seeks to hold them personally liable.
It follows that the judgment of the Trial Court must be affirmed overruling the plea of privilege filed by the Dallas County Flood Control District; and that the judgment of the Trial Court must be reversed overruling the pleas of privilege of Dallas County Levee Improvement District'No. 5, of City and County of Dallas Levee Improvement District, and of the Directors and Manager of the 3 Districts, and the cause remanded to the Trial Court with instructions to sustain the pleas of privilege filed by Dallas County Levee Improvement District No. 5, by City and County of Dallas Levee Improvement District, by the Directors of the 3 Districts (except Defendants Wyche and Windsor.) and by the Manager of the Flood Control District, and to transfer the causes against the foregoing to Dallas County, Texas. Plaintiffs.pray that their cause of action be dismissed as to defendants Paul Wyche and W. C. Windsor, Jr., personally. The Trial Court is instructed to dismiss plaintiffs’ cause of action as to these 2 defendants personally.
Affirmed in part, reversed and remanded with instructions in part.