HOUSTON - The First Court of Appeals recently affirmed a ruling denying the city of Houston summary judgment in a lawsuit brought over a city employee’s automobile collision.
The lawsuit was brought by Sheila McGriff, who claims that a city employee driving a freightliner and towing a trailer owned by the city negligently caused an automobile collision, which caused her to sustain severe personal injuries, including a traumatic brain injury.
According to the First Court’s Dec. 15 opinion, the city filed a combined plea to the jurisdiction and summary-judgment motion, arguing that the trial court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over McGriff’s suit because it is entitled to governmental immunity and McGriff failed to show that her suit against the city fell under the waiver of governmental immunity provided by the Texas Tort Claims Act.
The city argued that the employee was not liable to McGriff for negligence under Texas law because of the “sudden emergency” defense.
Court records show the trial court denied the city’s combined plea to the jurisdiction and summary-judgment motion, leading to the appeal.
The First Court held that the trial court did not err in denying the city’s combined plea to the jurisdiction and summary-judgment motion, affirming the lower court’s ruling.
“Here, we cannot say, based on the evidence before the trial court, that the City conclusively established that the sudden emergency was not proximately caused by (the employee’s negligence,” the opinion states.
Appeals case No. 01-21-00487-CV