Second Court of Appeals | Case Summaries

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued – Week of September 3, 2007

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.

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Souder v. Cannon, No. 02-06-00378-CV (Sept. 6, 2007) (Livingston, J., joined by Walker and McCoy, JJ.).: Held: The trial court erred by denying summary judgment on official immunity grounds as to Appellees’ claims against the former mayor, mayor, and city council members of the City of Hurst because there is no evidence that they had any knowledge that a general contractor hired by the City was failing to pay subcontractors, including Appellees, even though the City was continuing to pay the general contractor according to the construction contract; thus, Appellees failed to rebut these city officials’ conclusive proof of the good faith element of their affirmative defense of official immunity. However, the trial court correctly denied summary judgment as to Appellees’ claims against the City manager, deputy City manager, and City project manager because there is conflicting evidence as to whether they continued to approve payments to the general contractor after learning that it had failed to pay, and had no intention to pay, subcontractors, including Appellees; therefore, they did not meet their summary judgment burden with respect to the good faith element of official immunity.