BEAUMONT- A Texas appeals court panel issued a split ruling in a suit filed against the city of Beaumont by a man severely injured when the bicycle he was riding struck a water valve street cover.
A lower court determined that Raul Isern could sue the city under the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA), which allows limited exemptions from government sovereign immunity protections.
The city appealed. The Texas Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 13 upheld part of the lower court ruling, and overturned other parts.
The TTCA provides “a limited immunity waiver for tort claims arising from either a premises defect or a special defect,” the court ruled.
Premises defects are defined as “defects or dangerous conditions arising from conditions of a premises,” the court said. Special defects are conditions such as obstructions on a street.
One of the requirements for a premises claim is that the owner knew about the dangerous condition but failed “to exercise ordinary care” to fix it.
The court agreed with Isern that the valve cover was a premises defect, and therefore exempt from sovereign immunity.
“Isern alleged that the City had received prior reports of accidents at the location where the incident occurred,” the court ruled. “In its response, the City produced no evidence of its lack of knowledge of the condition.”
But the court agreed with the city that the valve cover was not a special defect, reversing the lower court ruling.
“We do not agree that in creating an exceptional class of road defects for which the State carries a higher degree of liability the Legislature meant to include every pothole or bump capable of upsetting a cyclist, or to impose a duty to warn of such conditions,” the court said.
The appeals court also dismissed Isern’s negligence claim against the city.
“We conclude that Isern’s negligence claims are insufficient to overcome the City’s immunity,” it ruled.
City of Beaumont v. Isern, Texas Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 09-19-00451-CV