The Texas First Court of Appeals ruled against Harris County’s plea to the jurisdiction in a dispute arising from an easement partially located on land owned by the county.
In an 18-page opinion issued on Feb. 20, a three-judge panel sided with appellee Park at Westcreek, LP, over Harris County, the appellant of the case. Justice Richard Hightower authored the opinion in which Justice Gordon Goodman and Justice Sarah Beth Landau concurred.
Westcreek first sued the county four years ago “asserting that it purchased its property subject to the right to use the Easement, stating its understanding that ‘the legal position of the County is that the Easement has been abandoned,’ and seeking ‘a declaration of the existence of the Easement.’”
The county responded by seeking a declaration from a lower court that “it was entitled to title and possession of the Easement through adverse possession, or, alternatively, and to the extent Westcreek succeeded in its claim, that the County was entitled to recover the value of its improvements constructed on the Easement.”
Almost two years ago, the Harris County trial court denied the county’s plea to the jurisdiction
“without stating the basis for its ruling,” according to the ruling.
“Accordingly, we overrule the County’s appellate issues one and two, complaining that the trial court erred in denying the plea to the jurisdiction because the court lacked jurisdiction to hear Westcreek’s claim and because the County did not waive its immunity by filings its cross-action,” Hightower writes.
“Finally, the County asserts that it is immune from Westcreek’s constitutional taking or inverse condemnation claim because Westcreek failed to allege an actionable inverse condemnation claim. We observe, however, that the County has itself acknowledged that the nature of Westcreek’s property interest here necessarily depends on the status of the Easement.”