Texas Natural Resource Conserv. v. White

• Citation: 46 S.W.3d 864
• Decision Date: 21 June 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-0348,00-0348
• Parties: (Tex. 2001) Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Petitioner v. Tammy White f/k/a Tammy Hand, Respondent
• Court: Supreme Court of Texas

Page 864

46 S.W.3d 864 (Tex. 2001)

Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Petitioner v. Tammy White f/k/a Tammy Hand, Respondent

No. 00-0348

Supreme Court of Texas.

Argued January 31, 2001

Decided April 26, 2001

Rehearing Overruled June 21, 2001

On Petition for Review from the Court of Appeals for the Second District of Texas

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Justice Abbott delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Phillips, Justice Hecht, Justice Enoch, Justice Owen, Justice Baker, Justice Hankinson and Justice Jefferson joined.

In this case, we decide two issues: whether a stationary electric motor-driven pump is "motor-driven equipment" under Texas Tort Claims Act section 101.021, and whether the pump's "operation or use" caused the plaintiff's property damage. White sued the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) after a fire destroyed her business. The TNRCC filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction claiming that White's allegations did not support a waiver of sovereign immunity under the Tort Claims Act. The trial court denied the motion. On interlocutory appeal, the court of appeals affirmed, reasoning that White sufficiently alleged that the TNRCC's pump was "motor-driven equipment" and that the pump's operation or use caused her property damage and therefore that section 101.021's sovereign-immunity waiver could apply. 13 S.W.3d 819. We hold that the TNRCC's pump is "motor-driven equipment," but that the operation or use of that equipment did not cause White's property damage. Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeals' judgment and render judgment dismissing the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

I. Facts

Tammy White owned a store on land adjacent to underground gasoline tanks. When the tanks began to leak, gas fumes migrated onto her property. White informed the TNRCC about the fumes, and the TNRCC dug a trench on White's property and installed a motor-driven pump to dissipate the fumes. The TNRCC removed the pump several days after installing it. Six days later, the fumes migrated to and pooled in the corner of White's store and started a fire that razed it. White sued the TNRCC, asserting that her claim fell within the Texas Tort Claims Act's waiver of sovereign immunity for property damage proximately caused by a governmental unit's use of motor-driven equipment. That waiver provision states:

A governmental unit in the state is liable for:

(1) property damage, personal injury, and death proximately caused by the wrongful act or omission or the negligence of an employee acting within his scope of employment if:

(A) the property damage, personal injury, or death arises from the operation or use of a motor-driven vehicle or motor-driven equipment.

Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.021(1)(A).

The TNRCC filed a "Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction Based on Sovereign Immunity." The TNRCC asserted that sovereign immunity was not waived under the Tort Claims Act because the pump was not "motor-driven equipment" and because White had not alleged that its operation or use caused the fire. The trial court denied the TNRCC's motion, and the TNRCC filed an interlocutory appeal. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 51.014(a)(8) (allowing interlocutory appeals from orders denying a governmental unit's plea to the jurisdiction). The court of appeals affirmed. It held that, for purposes of section 101.021, White alleged sufficient facts to establish that the TNRCC's pump was "motor-driven equipment," as that term is used in the Act, and that White's factual allegations that the TNRCC dug a trench and installed a pump on her property, improperly operated the pump, and thereby caused her injury, were sufficient to defeat the TNRCC's plea to the jurisdiction. 13 S.W.3d 819. We granted the TNRCC's petition for review.

II. Jurisdiction

We first consider whether we have jurisdiction to decide this case. Because this is an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a plea to the jurisdiction and there was no dissent in the court of appeals, we have jurisdiction only if we determine that the court of appeals held differently from a prior decision of another court of appeals or of this Court on a question of law material to the decision of the case. See Tex. Gov't Code §§ 22.001(a)(2), 22.225(c); Coastal Corp. v. Garza, 979 S.W.2d 318, 319 (Tex. 1998). Such conflicts jurisdiction exists when one case "'would operate to overrule the other in case they were both rendered by the same court.'" Coastal Corp., 979 S.W.2d at 319-20 (quoting Christy v. Williams, 298 S.W.2d 565, 568-69 (Tex. 1957)). In other words, it must appear that the decisions in the two cases are "so far upon the same state of facts" that they would control one another. Id. at 320 (emphasis in original).

The TNRCC argues that we have conflicts jurisdiction because the court of appeals' opinion conflicts with the Fourth Court of Appeals' opinion in Schaefer v. City of San Antonio, 838 S.W.2d 688 (Tex.App. San Antonio 1992, no writ). In Schaefer, the court of appeals held that a stationary electric motor-driven pump was not "motor-driven equipment" under the Tort Claims Act. Id. at 693. White counters that no conflict exists because the court of appeals' conclusion that such a pump was not "motor-driven equipment" is not a holding but merely dicta.

Noting that the scope of "motor-driven equipment" "must be understood to be fairly broad," the court of appeals in this case concluded that, in alleging injury caused by a stationary electric motor-driven pump, "White . . . alleged sufficient facts to establish that TNRCC's pump was 'motor-driven equipment' as that term is used in the act." 13 S.W.3d. at 825-26.¹ By contrast, Schaefer holds: "Because the status of stationary electric motor-driven pumps as 'motor-driven equipment' is questionable at best, we conclude that the City Water Board's sovereign immunity has not been clearly and explicitly waived. Therefore, we conclude that the water pump in question is not 'motor-driven equipment' for purposes of the Act." Schaefer, 838 S.W.2d at 693. Despite White's argument otherwise, this language is part of Schaefer's holding, not dicta.

Schaefer sued the San Antonio Waterworks Board for property damage from a broken water line near his property. Id. at 689. He argued that the City had waived sovereign immunity under section 101.021(1)(A), the provision at issue in this case. Among other claims, he asserted that the City's use of motor-driven pumps to drive water through its water lines caused the water to shoot out of the broken line and onto his property.

The Schaefer court made two holdings: (1) the city was not "operating" or "using" the water pump and (2) the pump was not "motor-driven equipment." Id. at 693. Certainly, the court could have relied on either determination to reach its ultimate conclusion that sovereign immunity had not been waived. But it relied on both. Because of the factual similarities between Schaefer and this case, and the divergence between the two cases' holdings, we conclude that one decision "would operate to overrule the other." Coastal Corp., 979 S.W.2d at 319-20. We therefore have jurisdiction, and we now address the merits of this case.

III. Analysis

As a governmental unit, the TNRCC is immune from both suit and liability for White's injury unless the Texas Tort Claims Act waives that immunity. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 101.021, 101.025. White contends that section 101.021 provides that waiver. Id. § 101.021(1)(A). In considering whether the TNRCC has waived sovereign immunity in this case, we consider the facts alleged by the plaintiff and, to the extent it is relevant to the jurisdictional issue, the evidence submitted by the parties. See Tex. Ass'n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 446 (Tex. 1993); see also Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 555 (Tex. 2000).

A. Motor-Driven Equipment

The TNRCC first maintains that the trial court lacked jurisdiction because the pump used on White's land is not "motor-driven equipment." It bases this argument largely upon Schaefer, which it cites for the proposition that stationary electric motor-driven pumps do not fall within the meaning of section 101.021 "motor-driven equipment." See Schaefer, 838 S.W.2d at 693. White counters that the pump should indeed be considered "motor-driven equipment," citing 4 DG's Corp. v. City of Lockney, 853 S.W.2d 855, 857 (Tex.App. Amarillo 1993, no writ). The Tort Claims Act does not define "motor-driven equipment." It provides only that:

"Motor-driven equipment" does not include:

(A) equipment used in connection with the operation of floodgates or water release equipment by river authorities created under the laws of this state; or

(B) medical equipment, such as iron lungs, located in hospitals.

Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.001(4).

We hold that the pump is "motor-driven equipment" for two reasons. First, the pump falls within the generally accepted meaning of "motor-driven equipment." "Equipment," which is not specially defined either by the Tort Claims Act or an opinion of this Court, generally means "[t]he articles or implements used for a specific purpose or activity." Black's Law Dictionary 558 (7th ed. 1999). "Motor-driven" means, quite simply, driven by a motor. The pump in this case was an implement used for the purpose of dissipating fumes. It was driven or made to perform its task by a motor. It therefore fits the general definition of "motor-driven equipment."

The Seventh Court of Appeals, in 4 DG's Corp., 853 S.W.2d at 857, followed this same reasoning. In that case, the owner of a house near a governmental unit's sewage-removal pumps sued the governmental unit when a power outage caused the pumps to fail. Id. at 856. Sewage backed up into the owner's house, and the owner alleged that an employee of the governmental unit negligently failed to determine whether the...