City of Dallas v. Sanchez
Dallas Court of Appeals, No. 05-13-01651-CV (October 27, 2014)
Justices Lang-Miers, Brown, and O’Neill (Opinion)
Rule 91a, adopted in 2013, now provides Texas litigants with a vehicle to seek dismissal of an action that, based solely on the pleaded allegations, has “no basis in fact or law.” In one of the first appellate opinions reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss under Rule 91a, the Dallas Court of Appeals affirmed a partial dismissal based on sovereign immunity. The Sanchezes sued the City of Dallas for its failure to respond to their son’s 911 call for emergency services related to a drug overdose, which resulted in his death. They alleged the call was somehow disconnected due to the negligent misuse or malfunction of the City’s phone system. The City moved to dismiss under Rule 91a, and the trial court granted the motion in part and denied it in part. Reviewing the interlocutory appeal de novo, the Court of Appeals affirmed. It agreed with the trial court that the claim based on negligent misuse had no basis in fact, and that the claim based on the malfunction of the phone system was colorable under the Texas Tort Claims Act. As to whether the equipment malfunction claim had “no basis in law,” the Court declined to find that the allegations as pleaded could not entitle the Sanchezes to relief, concluding that the waiver of sovereign immunity under section 101.021(2) of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code “is far from clear.”
