Second Court of Appeals | Case Summaries

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued – Week of February 20, 2006

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions can be accessed by clicking the cause number then clicking View HTML Version of Opinion.

Lipan ISD v. Bigler, No. 02-0005-299 (Feb. 23, 2006) (Cayce, C.J., joined by Livingston and Holman, JJ.).: Held: The trial court did not err by denying Appellant’s plea to the jurisdiction. Student who was allegedly injured when his arm became entangled in an auger powered by a tractor alleged facts establishing a waiver of Appellant’s governmental immunity pursuant to Section 101.021(1)(A) of the Texas Tort Claims Act.
Bowen v. State, No. 02-0002-239 (Feb. 23, 2006) (Gardner, J., joined by Holman and Walker, JJ.).: Held: Trial court's error in failing to charge the jury on the defense of necessity was harmful. The trial court charged the jury on self-defense but not necessity. From the evidence presented at trial, the jury could have found that Appellant did not act out of self-defense but did act out of necessity. Thus, Appellant was harmed by the trial court's failure to charge the jury on necessity.