Brazoria County v. Gelder

The Texas Tort Claims Act, �101.022(a) of the Texas Civil Practices & Remedies Code, does not limit the government's duty to warn about special defects such as excavations or obstructions on highways, roads, or streets. However, since the road bump in this case, a permanent condition and not an unusual or unexpected danger to the ordinary users of the road, is not a special defect, the Texas Tort Claims Act does not waive the County's immunity from suit. Houston Court of Appeals, No. 14-08-01092-CV, 09-17-2009

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Reversed and Rendered and Opinion filed September 17, 2009.

OPINION

Brazoria County, the appellant in this interlocutory appeal, asserts governmental immunity against a personal-injury lawsuit filed by the appellee, Kym Van Gelder. Van Gelder alleges that a road bump constitutes a “special defect” for which the Texas Tort Claims Act (the “TTCA”) waives immunity and that Brazoria County (the “County”) can also be held responsible under ordinary premises liability for, among other things, choosing a warning sign that mislabels the road “bump” as a “hump.” We hold Van Gelder has failed to invoke the trial court’s subject-matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order denying the County’s plea to the jurisdiction, and we render judgment dismissing the suit for want of jurisdiction.

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