The Texas Supreme Court has reversed a Corpus Christi Court of Appeals decision upholding a trial court order dismissing homeowners’ suit against an irrigation district for ultra vires actions under the Tax Code.
In the case of Juana Herrera, Jose Lopez-Torres, Blanca Martinez, Juan Zamora, San Juanita Sosa, America Rios, Ruth Garza, Angel Perez Alanis, Juan Trevino, Maria Margarita Martinez, and the Association of the Hoehn Subdivision v. Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 1 and others (No. 23-0457; December 6, 2024), the District attempted to levy and collect disputed charges that were over twenty years old that arose when the irrigation district hired a firm to find and collect delinquent charges. The affected homeowners sued, arguing that their refusal to remove the charges was an ultra vires act, in derogation of the district officials’ ministerial duty to comply with Texas Tax Code 33.05(c). The officials shot back saying that they made it clear that these charges were “assessments”, not taxes and were therefore immune from the Tax Code and were under the jurisdiction of the Texas Water Code 58.509.
When the homeowners sued the District officials, the trial court denied the homeowners’ discovery requests and dismissed their claims for lack of jurisdiction. The court of appeals affirmed in relevant part stating that the trial court lacked jurisdiction because the homeowners never sought a tax refund and because the District clarified in a letter that the charges were “assessments” under the Water Code. The homeowners did not settle for this, however, and petitioned the SCOTX for review.
In a per curiam opinion, SCOTX stated that it is the burden of the homeowners to show jurisdiction, and that they sufficiently pleaded an ultra vires claim under the Tax Code. The homeowners complained of three ultra vires actions: (1) refusing to remove the delinquent taxes; (2) levying a Water Code assessment on a property outside of its jurisdiction; and (3) providing improper notice of that assessment. SCOTX held that the homeowners alleged facts sufficiently demonstrating subject matter jurisdiction over their Tax Code ultra vires claim. Therefore, without hearing oral argument, the Court granted the petition for review, reversed the court of appeals judgment as to that claim, and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
This article was researched and drafted by TCJL Intern Hannah Greer.
