The Houston [14th] Court of Appeals has reversed a Harris County trial court’s denial of the City of Houston’s plea to the jurisdiction in a Texas Tort Claims Act case.
City of Houston v. Randy Busby (No. 14-23-00228-CV; January 30, 2025) arose In 2020. Busby was operating a vehicle when he failed to yield for an emergency vehicle, and the two collided in an intersection. Busby alleged the emergency vehicle was not employing its lights or its sirens. Busby sued the City of Houston, which asserted general denial and governmental immunity. The City then filed two motions for summary judgment. The first argued that Busby failed to state a claim waiving governmental immunity under the TTCA. The second cited Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) for the proposition that Busby was unable to use civil claims to relitigate his traffic “conviction” through his no-contest plea. The trial court denied the Heck motion but did not rule on the governmental immunity issue. The City sought interlocutory relief.
In an opinion by Justice Wise, the court found that the Heck doctrine applies both to no-contest pleas and to traffic convictions. Here the only fact in dispute was whether emergency lights and sirens were in use at the time of the collision. However, if lights and sirens were not in use, it would contradict Busby’s no-contest plea for the traffic offense. Since the civil suit and his no-contest plea cannot coexist under the Heck doctrine, the court dismissed Busby’s claims. The court took care to note that the ruling only applies to the particular facts of this case.
TCJL Research Intern Geneva Cline researched and substantially drafted this article.
