City of Dallas v. Saucedo-Falls
| Decision Date | 18 August 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-08-00029-CV.,05-08-00029-CV. |
| Citation | 268 S.W.3d 653 |
| Parties | CITY OF DALLAS, Appellant v. Dora SAUCEDO-FALLS, Brigitte Gassaway, Shirley Gray, John Martinez, Troy McClain, Mona Neill, Floyd Simpson, William Turnage, Cynthia Villareal, Ron Waldrop, Thomas Tanksley, Michael Pruitt, and Larry Anderson, Appellees. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Barbara E. Rosenberg, Thomas P. Perkins, Janice S. Moss, James Pinson, City of Dallas Attorney's Office, Dallas, TX, for Appellant.
Robert Charles Lyon, Robert Lyon & Associates, Rowlett, TX, Bob Gorsky, Christopher David Livingston, Lyon, Gorsky, Haring, and Gilbert, LLP, Dallas, TX, for Appellees.
Before Chief Justice THOMAS and Justices FITZGERALD and LANG-MIERS.
This is an interlocutory appeal of the trial court's order granting in part and denying in part the City of Dallas's plea to the jurisdiction. We reverse and render in part and reverse and remand in part for further proceedings.
In February 2002, a coalition of police officers and firefighters presented the City with a signed petition seeking a special election on a pay increase for the City's sworn police officers and firefighters equal to 17% of their base salary. The City's secretary approved the petition and submitted it to the City Council. Negotiations for a salary increase between the City and representatives of the police and fire departments failed, and the City Council called for a special election on the pay increase for May 4, 2002. In the meantime, on March 20, 2002, the City Council passed Resolution No. 02-0982 (the March 2002 Pay Resolution), which approved a 5% pay increase in the base salary of each sworn employee of the police and fire departments for fiscal year (FY) 2002-03, with a similar pay increase for the next two fiscal years. The March 2002 Pay Resolution provided that it would become effective on October 1, 2002 if the voters did not approve the 17% pay increase in the May special election. The voters did not approve the pay increase. On September 30, 2002, one day before the March 2002 Pay Resolution was to become effective, the City Council passed another resolution; this one authorized a 5% pay increase for uniformed employees below the rank of deputy chief only, not for all sworn employees, and was to become effective October 29, 2002 (the September 2002 Pay Resolution). The City Council passed an appropriations ordinance adopting the FY 2002-03 budget containing the revised pay increase approved in the September 2002 Pay Resolution.
Appellees are City police officers and firefighters currently or formerly employed in the ranks of deputy chief or above who did not receive a pay increase pursuant to the September 2002 Pay Resolution. They sued the City for back pay and benefits they contend were required by the March 2002 Pay Resolution. The City filed a plea to the jurisdiction, which the trial court denied. The City appealed. Relying on Reata Construction Corp. v. City of Dallas, No. 02-1031, 2004 WL 726906 (Tex. Apr.2, 2004) (per curiam), withdrawn on reh'g, 197 S.W.3d 371 (Tex. 2006), we affirmed the denial of the plea to the jurisdiction, concluding that the City waived its immunity from suit by asserting a counterclaim for attorney's fees. City of Dallas v. Saucedo-Falls, 172 S.W.3d 703 709 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2005), rev'd on other grounds, 218 S.W.3d 79 (Tex.2007). The City filed a petition for review in the Texas Supreme Court. While the petition was pending, the Texas Supreme Court granted rehearing in Reata, withdrew its original opinion, and substituted a new opinion in its place. See Reata Constr. Corp. v. City of Dallas, 197 S.W.3d 371 (Tex.2006). The Texas Supreme Court noted that our opinion in this case relied on the withdrawn and replaced Reata opinion. See City of Dallas v. Saucedo-Falls, 218 S.W.3d 79, 79 (Tex.2007). As a result, the court granted the City's petition for review, reversed our judgment, and remanded this case to the trial court for further proceedings. Id. at 80.
On remand to the trial court, appellees filed their fourth amended petition, asserting state law claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, declaratory judgment, and mandamus and injunctive relief. Appellees also alleged, for the first time, a claim under section 1983. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2003). They alleged that they had a property right to the 5% pay increase contained in the March 2002 Pay Resolution and that the City deprived them of that property right without due process, in violation of the constitution and laws of the United States. They further alleged that the City's failure to give them the pay increase violated Ordinance No. 16084 enacted by the City in 1979 (the 1979 Ordinance). They contend that the 1979 Ordinance required the City to maintain a certain percentage pay differential between grades in the sworn ranks of the police and fire departments, and the City's failure to give them the 5% pay increase in accordance with the March 2002 Pay Resolution violated the 1979 Ordinance because it modified the pay differential between the ranks that existed before the September 2002 pay increase.
In response, the City filed a second plea to the jurisdiction seeking dismissal of appellees' claims. The trial court granted the City's plea to the jurisdiction on the state law claims, but denied it on the section 1983 claim. The City appeals.1
Appellees initially contend that a plea to the jurisdiction is not the appropriate procedure by which to challenge their section 1983 claim. They argue that the City does not have immunity for a section 1983 claim and that the trial court should not consider the merits of the claim when it decides a plea to the jurisdiction. They argue that the proper procedure to test the merits of the claim is by a motion for summary judgment. But the City contends that appellees' pleadings were not sufficient to allege a valid section 1983 claim and that, because it is not a valid claim, the pleadings do not invoke the trial court's jurisdiction over that claim. It argues that a plea to the jurisdiction is the proper procedure for such a challenge. We agree with the City.
A party may challenge the trial court's subject matter jurisdiction by filing a plea to the jurisdiction. Tex. Dep't of Parks & Wildlife v. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d 217, 225-26 (Tex.2004). Texas courts have considered the issue in other cases in which a governmental unit used the plea to the jurisdiction procedure to challenge the validity of a section 1983 claim. See, e.g., Myers v. Adams, 728 S.W.2d 771, 772 (Tex.1971) (); Gomez v. Hous. Auth. of the City of El Paso, 148 S.W.3d 471, 476-82 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2004, pet. denied), cert. denied, 546 U.S. 872, 126 S.Ct. 379, 163 L.Ed.2d 166 (2005); City of Fort Worth v. Robles, 51 S.W.3d 436, 443-44 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001, pet. denied), disapproved of on other grounds by City of Grapevine v. Sipes, 195 S.W.3d 689, 695 & n. 5 (Tex.2006).
When the plea to the jurisdiction challenges the existence of jurisdictional facts, the court considers the relevant evidence submitted by the parties when it is necessary to resolve the jurisdictional issue. Id. at 227. This procedure generally mirrors that of a summary judgment under rule of civil procedure 166a(c). Id. at 228. The plaintiff has the burden to plead facts affirmatively showing the trial court has subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at 226. The governmental unit then has the burden to assert and support its contention, with evidence, that the trial court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at 228. If it does so, the plaintiff must raise a material fact issue regarding jurisdiction to survive the plea to the jurisdiction. Id. at 228.2
Whether the trial court has subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law which we review de novo. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d at 226. In conducting our review, we construe the pleadings liberally in favor of the plaintiff and look to the plaintiff's intent. Id. at 226-27. We consider the pleadings and the evidence pertinent to the jurisdictional inquiry. Id.; City of Dallas v. First Trade Union Sav. Bank, 133 S.W.3d 680, 686 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2003, pet. denied). If the evidence creates a fact issue concerning jurisdiction, the plea to the jurisdiction must be denied. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d at 227-28. If the evidence is undisputed or fails to raise a fact issue concerning jurisdiction, the trial court rules on the plea to the jurisdiction as a matter of law. Id. at 228. This standard "protect[s] the plaintiffs from having to `put on their case simply to establish jurisdiction.'" Id. (quoting Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 554 (Tex. 2000)).
Section 1983 provides in pertinent part:
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State ... subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law.
42 U.S.C. § 1983. A claim under section 1983 must allege two essential elements: (1) the conduct complained of was committed by a person acting under color of state law, and (2) the conduct deprived a person of a federally protected right. Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 535, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981), overruled on other grounds by Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 328, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986). The City does not dispute that municipalities are included within the definition of "person" for purposes...
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