Court Opinion

ID: 9652519
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:25:16.303552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:52.120699
License: Public Domain

OPINION
PAUL C. MURPHY, Senior Chief Justice (Assigned).
The City of Houston (City) appeals the trial court’s denial of its motion for summary judgment.1 On appeal, the City *423claims its motion for summary judgment should have been granted because (1) ap-pellee Victoria Daniels failed to give the City proper notice under the Texas Tort Claims Act or the City of Houston Charter, and (2) Daniels failed to demonstrate the City waived sovereign immunity. We affirm.
Facts
On November 30, 1996, Officer Tellez of the Houston Police Department was responding to a Priority Two dispatch for an incident involving domestic violence. While driving to his destination, Tellez collided with the rear of a Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) bus. The Metro bus, which was driven by Daniels, was stationary; passengers were boarding and exiting at a designated stop. After the impact, Tellez’s car traveled across several lanes of traffic and a median before coming to a stop. Daniels filed suit against the City for injuries sustained in the accident.
The City filed a motion for summary judgment contending it is immune from suit because its employee, Officer Tellez, is entitled to official immunity. The City also claims that Daniels has waived any claim under the Texas Tort Claims Act by failing to give formal written notice of her claim against the city. Daniels contends the City had actual notice of Officer Tellez’ tortious conduct. The trial court denied the City’s motion.
Standard of Review
In reviewing the trial court’s denial of a motion for summary judgment, we apply the same standard of review as we do for the grant of a summary judgment. See Ervin v. James, 874 S.W.2d 713, 715 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, writ denied). The function of a summary judgment is the elimination of patently unmeritorious claims or untenable defenses. Gulbenkian v. Penn, 151 Tex. 412, 252 S.W.2d 929, 931 (1952). For defendants, as mov-ants, to prevail in the summary judgment, they must either disprove at least one necessary element of the plaintiffs theory of recovery or plead and conclusively establish each essential element of an affirmative defense, thereby rebutting the plaintiffs cause of action. Peeler v. Hughes & Luce, 868 S.W.2d 823, 827 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1993), aff'd, 909 S.W.2d 494 (Tex.1995). When a defendant moves for summary judgment on an affirmative defense, like official immunity, the defendant must conclusively prove each element of the defense as a matter of law. City of Lancaster v. Chambers, 883 S.W.2d 650, 653 (Tex.1994). We view the summary judgment proof in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact are resolved in the nonmovant’s favor. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management, 690 S.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Tex.1985).
Notice of Claim
The Texas Tort Claims Act requires a claimant to provide a governmental unit with formal, written notice of a claim against it within six months of the incident giving rise to the claim. The formal notice requirement does not apply, however, if the governmental unit has actual notice that death has occurred, that the claimant has received some injury, or that the claimant’s property has been damaged. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code § 101.101. For a governmental entity to *424have actual notice, it must have knowledge of (1) a death or injury; (2) its alleged fault producing or contributing to the death or injury; and (3) the identity of the parties involved. Cathey v. Booth, 900 S.W.2d 339, 340 (Tex.1995). The existence of actual notice is a question of fact. Dinh v. Harris County Hospital District, 896 S.W.2d 248, 253 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1995, writ dism’d w.o.j.). Notice can be imputed to the City by an agent or representative who has a duty to gather facts and investigate. City of Galveston v. Shu, 607 S.W.2d 942, 946 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1980, no writ).
The City’s summary judgment proof includes excerpts from the depositions of Officer Mike Moore, who investigated the accident, Officer Tellez, and the affidavit of Rolando Saenz, a Houston Police Department accident investigator. Both the City and Daniels included copies of the accident reports in their summary judgment proof. Investigating Officer Moore opined that the accident was caused by the unidentified driver of a white van who pulled out of a nearby parking lot. Officer Tellez swerved to miss the van and hit the bus. In his affidavit, Rolando Saenz averred that Officer Tellez’s actions were reasonable and prudent. According to the police report, Officer Tellez stated that prior to the collision, his speed was approximately sixty miles per hour and approximately forty-eight miles per hour at the time of impact. The posted speed limit was thirty-five miles per hour. The accident investigator reported property damage to the bus and police car was estimated at approximately $9000.
Daniels filed a response to the motion for summary judgment and attached a Houston Police Department motor vehicle accident report, which showed eleven people were injured in the accident and that Officer Tellez was exceeding the posted speed limit at the time of the accident. Therefore, Daniels has presented a fact issue with regard to whether the City received actual notice of her claim.
Waiver of Sovereign Immunity
Under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, the City is not liable for the torts of its agents or officers unless there is a constitutional or statutory waiver of immunity. Mount Pleasant Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Estate of Lindburg, 766 S.W.2d 208, 211 (Tex.1989). The limited waiver of sovereign immunity is set forth in section 101.021 of the Texas Tort Claims Act, which provides:
A governmental unit in the state is liable for:
(1) property damages, personal injury, and death proximately caused by the wrongful act or omission or the negligence of an employee acting within the scope of his employment if:
(A) the property damage, personal injury, or death arises from the operation or use of a motor-driven vehicle or motor-driven equipment; and
(B) the employee would be personally liable to the claimant according to Texas law; and
(2) personal injury and death so caused by a condition or use of tangible personal property or real property if the governmental unit would, were it a private person, be liable to the claimant according to Texas law.
Tex. Civ. PRAC. & Rem.Code Ann. § 101.021 (Vernon 1986).
Sovereign immunity protects governmental entities from liability whereas official, or qualified, immunity protects individual governmental employees. DeWitt v. Harris County, 904 S.W.2d 650, 653 (Tex.1995). Governmental employees are protected by official immunity when *425they perform discretionary functions in good faith and within their authority. Id. at 652. Where a governmental employee has no liability because of official immunity, the governmental entity is not liable under section 101.021 of the Tort Claims Act for that employee’s negligence. Id. at 653-54.
The parties agree that Officer Tellez was acting within his authority. Therefore, we turn to whether the summary judgment proof conclusively establishes Tellez was performing a discretionary function while operating his patrol car. Unlike high speed chases or traffic stops, operating a car in a non-emergency situation does not involve personal deliberation or the exercise of professional expertise, decision, or judgment. Woods v. Moody, 933 S.W.2d 306, 308 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1996, no writ). To the contrary, driving a car is ministerial because it requires a person to perform in a given state of facts and in a prescribed manner in obedience to the method of legal authority, without regard to the propriety of the act being done. Burgess v. Jaramillo, 914 S.W.2d 246, 249 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1996, no writ). Thus absent special circumstances that suggest the officer was performing a discretionary function, such as engaging in a high speed chase, an officer driving a motor vehicle while on official, non-emergency business is performing a ministerial act. See City of Lancaster v. Chambers, 883 S.W.2d at 655.
On the issue of whether Officer Tellez was operating his vehicle on emergency business, the parties squarely oppose each other. Officer Tellez was responding to a Priority Two call. According to the Houston Police Department General Order regarding response priorities:
Priority Two calls deal mainly with in-progress property crimes and/or a threat to human welfare, and assume that if not in-progress, the event recently occurred, or response to the scene is urgent. Standard response to Priority Two calls is Silent, however, if the situation clearly warrants the use of emergency equipment, the officer had [sic] the prerogative to use that mode, but that decision must be communicated verbally to the dispatcher. Officers are reminded that Priority Two calls may be held in queue for ten minutes prior to dispatch. Obviously, an expedited response at that point in time would probably be ineffective. Additionally, the time delay in reporting the incident to the Emergency Communications Division is important information that the officer should consider when determining the appropriate response posture. The responding officer will proceed directly to the scene, obey all traffic laws, (unless utilizing red light and siren), and not stop any traffic violators.
Officer Mike Moore testified that Tellez’s response to the domestic violence call required an emergency response. Daniels includes a copy of the report prepared at the time of the accident that states the officer was not responding to an emergency. Officer Tellez admitted that he was going sixty miles per hour prior to the collision. We conclude this evidence is sufficient to raise a fact issue regarding waiver of sovereign immunity.
We appreciate the instrumental value of granting immunity to peace officers for their official actions. Moreover, we are aware of the importance the legislature regards governmental immunity and recognize the extent to which forcing municipalities to incur the expense of a trial will defeat the doctrine’s purpose. However, the parties dispute fact issues that are pivotal to the City’s affirmative defense. As the trial court correctly perceived, there are fact issues precluding summary *426judgment. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

. Ordinarily, appellate courts do not have jurisdiction over a denial of a motion for sum*423mary judgment. Schlipf v. Exxon Corp., 644 S.W.2d 453, 454 (Tex.1982). However, section 51.014(5) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code provides that the denial of a motion for summary judgment may be appealed if it is based on an assertion of qualified immunity. City of Houston v. Kilburn, 849 S.W.2d 810, 812 (Tex.1993).