HOUSTON – The 14th Court of Appeals recently found a lower court erred in denying the Harris Health System’s plea to the jurisdiction in an injury lawsuit.
According to the plaintiff’s lawsuit, on March 6, 2017, Dorothy Peavy was injured when she fell at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, which is a part of the Harris County Hospital District (HCHD).
In her suit against HCHD, Peavy alleged that she tripped and fell on the lip of a door brace, which “posed an unreasonable risk of harm as the door brace was not level with the floor and there was no warning or indication that it was protruding from the floor.”
HCHD responded to the suit by filing a plea to the jurisdiction, stating that it had no actual knowledge of the defect and therefore had not waived its governmental immunity.
The trial court denied the plea and an appeal followed.
On Oct. 20, the 14th Court reversed the ruling and rendered a judgment that Peavy’s case be dismissed.
“On this record, Peavy has not raised a genuine issue of material fact showing that HCHD actually knew of the alleged defect, and thus she has not overcome the challenge to the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction,” the opinion states. “The trial court erred by denying HCHD’s plea to the jurisdiction.”
Case No. 14-19-00953-CV