CONROE - Today, the Ninth Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling granting the city of Conroe governmental immunity from a lawsuit brought by Triple B Services.
Court records show Triple B asserted claims against the city for breach of contract and violation of the Texas Public Prompt Pay Act, seeking to collect amounts allegedly owed under a construction contract.
The city filed a plea to the jurisdiction asserting governmental immunity, which the trial court granted.
On appeal, Triple B argued that the trial court erred by allowing witness testimony and exhibits into evidence at the plea hearing, by weighing the merits of the lawsuit, and by granting the city’s plea.
Triple B also argued that immunity for breach of contract should be abrogated because “the process in which it is decided is being abused” and because Federal Sign v. TSU was wrongly decided and should be overturned.
The Ninth court rejected the company’s argument that the trial court erred in considering the evidence or testimony and also overruled its second issue.
“On this record, we conclude that the City presented evidence at the hearing that negated Triple B’s jurisdictional allegations because the City established that the damages Triple B sought were not ‘due and owed’ by the City under the contract and did not include ‘any amount owed’ as compensation for increased cost to perform the work under the Contract as direct result of City caused delays or acceleration, and the damages were not for ‘change orders or additional work’ the contractor was directed to perform,” the opinion states.
Case No. 09-21-00096-CV