Court Opinion

ID: 9718448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:24:14.931797+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:59:08.006366
License: Public Domain

Justice JEFFERSON,
joined by Justice RODRIGUEZ, concurring.
I concur with the Court’s judgment and concur generally with its opinion. But I disagree that, when deciding if we have jurisdiction based on conflicting opinions, we should consider only those opinions the courts of appeals have designated for publication under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 47.3. Because Rule 47.7 states that unpublished opinions “have no prece-dential value and must not be cited as authority by counsel or by a court,” see Tex.R.App. P. 47.3, the Court reasons that unpublished opinions cannot be the basis for conflicts jurisdiction. 73 S.W.3d 183. But Rule 47.7 does not proscribe citation of unpublished opinions for any and all purposes. By pointing out a conflicting case, an attorney or a court is not necessarily asserting it as authority or arguing for its precedential value.
• Moreover, because we can reasonably construe Rule 47.7 so that it does not function as an independent limitation on our jurisdiction, we should do so. When a procedural rule conflicts with a statute, the statute controls unless the rule repeals the statute under Texas Government Code section 22.004. Johnstone v. State, 22 *185S.W.3d 408, 409 (Tex.2000). Our opinion-publishing rules should neither add to nor subtract from our statutorily-defined jurisdiction.
Thus, I agree with the dissenting opinion, in principle, that conflicts jurisdiction can be based on unpublished opinions. But the two unpublished opinions cited here do not support conflicts jurisdiction for other reasons. Petitioners argue that the present court of appeals opinion conflicts with Outman v. Allen ISD Board of Trustees, No. 05-97-01112-CV, 1999 WL 817694, 199 Tex.App. LEXIS 7691 (Tex.App.—Dallas Oct. 14, 1999, no pet.)(unpublished opinion). But the same court of appeals issued both opinions. The plain language of the statutes does not extend jurisdiction when the purportedly conflicting opinions issue from the same court. See Tex. Gov’t Code § 22.001(a)(2) (delineating supreme court jurisdiction to include “a case in which one of the courts of appeals holds differently from a prior decision of another court of appeals .... ”); id. § 22.225(c) (stating that the section defining court of appeals jurisdiction “does not deprive the supreme court of jurisdiction in a civil case ... in which one of the courts of appeals holds differently from a prior decision of another court of appeals .... ”).
The petitioners claim that the court of appeals’ opinion here also conflicts with another unpublished opinion, Beresford v. Gonzales, No. 13-99-384-CV, 1999 Tex.App. LEXIS 8689 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi Nov. 18, 1999, no pet.)(unpublished opinion). They note that the court of appeals’ opinion here limits immunity to a school official’s actions that accomplish a legitimate school district objective, while in Beresford, the court of appeals held that a coach’s actions were within the scope of her duties without mentioning any additional requirements. But any tension between the present case and Beresford would be, at most, by implication. Apparent inconsistencies in principles the courts of appeals announce are not sufficient to establish conflicts jurisdiction. Gonzalez v. Avalos, 907 S.W.2d 443, 444 (Tex.1995)(quoting Christy v. Williams, 156 Tex. 555, 298 S.W.2d 565, 567 (1957)). Rather, the “conflict must be apparent from the face of the opinions,” Hill v. Miller, 714 S.W.2d 313, 315 (Tex.1986), and, “[t]he conflict must be on the very question of law actually involved and determined .... ” Coastal Corp. v. Garza, 979 S.W.2d 318, 319 (Tex.1998) (quoting Christy v. Williams, 156 Tex. 555, 298 S.W.2d 565, 568-69 (1957)). The opinions are not so inconsistent that, had they been issued by the same court, one would necessarily overrule the other, which is necessary for conflicts jurisdiction. See Coastal Corp., 979 S.W.2d at 319-20. Thus, the opinion in the present case and in Beres-ford do not present a conflict establishing our jurisdiction.
Nor do the published opinions cited here establish conflicts jurisdiction, for the reasons the Court explains. I would hold that conflicts jurisdiction can be based on unpublished opinions. But because neither the published nor the unpublished opinions cited here support conflicts jurisdiction, I concur in the Court’s judgment.