HOUSTON - The First Court of Appeals today found that a trial court properly denied the city of Houston’s plea to the jurisdiction in a lawsuit brought over an officer’s collision.
The lawsuit was brought by Shadi Sukhta, who on March 20, 2017, was in a traffic accident with a Houston police officer.
According to the First Court’s opinion, the officer struck Sukhta’s vehicle on the right rear side. Sukhta reported to police that he was “stopped and another police car behind [him] hit [his] car in the back.” Sukhta was taken from the scene of the accident in an ambulance. At the hospital, medical personnel determined that Sukhta had fractured his left arm. A Houston police officer questioned Sukhta at the hospital and then cited him for an “unsafe change of lanes.” A Houston Municipal Court later dismissed the citation, noting that the “Complaining Witness [was] Absent.”
The Texas Tort Claims Act required Sukhta to give the city 90 days notice of any injury or destruction before the city can be held liable.
Because the incident occurred on March 20, 2017, Sukhta’s notice to the city was required to be given by June 18, 2017, a Sunday. On Friday, June 16, 2017, counsel for Sukhta made several attempts to fax Sukhta’s notice letter to the city but never received a confirmation, the opinion states.
“Because Sukhta’s counsel never received a fax confirmation on Friday, June 16, 2017, she faxed another copy of the notice letter on Monday, June 19, 2017,” the opinion states. “The notice letter is addressed to both the City Secretary’s Office and the City Attorney’s Office, indicates that it was sent by both priority mail and fax, and has an electronic date stamp showing that it was received by the City of Houston Legal Department on June 19, 2017 at 9:49.”
According to the opinion, Sukhta filed suit against the city on Jan. 31, 2019. On Oct. 8, 2021, two weeks before the case was set for trial, the city filed its plea, alleging that the notice Sukhta sent on Monday, June 19, 2017, was untimely.
Court records show the trial court applied Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 4 to extend the notice period by one day.
The First Court found that Sukhta properly filed his notice on the Monday following the Sunday deadline.
“Because we hold that Rule 4 applies to extend the time-period for giving notice under the TTCA when the last day of the notice period falls on a weekend — even when the governmental entity is a home-rule city — we affirm the trial court’s denial of the City’s Plea to the Jurisdiction,” the opinion states.
Case No. 01-21-00703-CV