Second Court of Appeals
Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of May 9, 2022.
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 (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.
Doe v. City of Fort Worth, No. 02-21-00026-CV (May 12, 2022) (Sudderth, C.J., joined by Womack and Walker, JJ.).
Held: Appellee is immune from Appellant’s tort claims. First, Appellee was performing a governmental function—animal control—when it engaged in its allegedly tortious conduct. Although Appellant was a teen volunteer at Appellee’s animal shelter, Appellant’s volunteer status did not alter the governmental nature of Appellee’s animal-control function. And second, Appellant did not plead facts to situate her claims within the Texas Tort Claims Act’s waiver of immunity. Even taking the allegations in Appellant’s pleadings as true, (1) Appellee did not “use” the relevant items of personal property—keycards and a keycard system—nor did any such “use” cause Appellant’s injuries; (2) Appellee did not have actual knowledge of the relevant conditions of real property—the allegedly nonfunctioning security cameras and dangerously isolating rooms—nor did Appellant lack such knowledge; and (3) Appellee’s alleged joint enterprise with PetSmart was irrelevant.
Perry v. Wichita Falls Hous. Auth., No. 02-21-00163-CV (May 12, 2022) (Kerr, J., joined by Wallach and Walker, JJ.).
Held: Texas Property Code Section 24.005(e) provides that if a “lease or applicable law requires the landlord to give a tenant an opportunity to respond to a notice of proposed eviction, a notice to vacate may not be given until the period provided for the tenant to respond to the eviction notice has expired.” If Section 24.005(e) applies, a landlord cannot combine a notice to vacate with a lease-termination notice. The landlord must send a separate, later notice to vacate in order to succeed in a forcible-detainer action. Additionally, 24 C.F.R. § 966.4(l)(3)(iii)—a federal-housing regulation that applies to public-housing leases and provides that “[a] notice to vacate which is required by State or local law may be combined with, or run concurrently with, a notice of lease termination under paragraph (l)(3)(i) of this section”—does not impliedly preempt Section 24.005(e).