Texas Dep't of Pub. Saf. v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236 (Tex. App. 2008). · Go Syfert
Texas Dep't of Pub. Saf. v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236 (Tex. App. 2008). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
G Cite
cited 2× by 1 distinct case · …due to the fact of the nature of the violence of the call. at p. 239 ⚠ not in text
60 citation events (60 in the last 25 years) across 3 distinct courts.
Treatment trajectory · 2011 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
2011 2018 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 19 distinct citers. How cited ↗
cited Cited as authority (rule) City of Mission v. Enrique Maximus Rodriguez
txctapp13 · 2026 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
cited Cited as authority (rule) City of Houston v. Catrennia Foreman Sauls, Individually and as Representative of the Estate of Dwayne Foreman, And Tristena Christian, as Next Friend of D.F., a Minor
Tex. App. · 2022 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238-39 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.); see also City of San Antonio v. Maspero, 640 S.W.3d 523 , 529 (Tex. 2022).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) the City of Austin v. Noel Powell (2×)
Tex. App. · 2022 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (officer was responding to emergency when he was dispatched to “10-99” call, which “signified that an officer requested assistance with a wanted person”); see also City of Houston v. Davis, No. 01–13–00600–CV, 2014 WL 1678907 , at *5 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Apr. 24, 2014, pet. denied) (mem. op.) (officer was responding to emergency when he initiated traffic stop on vehicle that had endangered motorists by trying to run another vehicle off road).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Alejandra Zapata, Individually and as Next Friend of Yarely Zapata, Antonio Morales Sr. and Irma Morales Individually and as Next Friends of Antonio Morales Jr. and Miguel Morales v. City of Gonzales
Tex. App. · 2020 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (holding that a dispatch call requesting assistance with a wanted person was an emergency call when the officer testified without contradiction that law enforcement officers consider such a request to be an emergency); see also Harris County v. Spears, No. 14-17-00662-CV, 2018 WL 4571841 , at *4–5 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Sept. 25, 2018, no pet.) (mem. op.) (concluding that the evidence established that a “priority two” response presented an emergency situation and that the claimant failed to …
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Maria Christina Gomez v. the City of Houston (2×)
Tex. App. · 2019 · confidence medium
Code § 101.055(2); see also City of San Antonio v. Hartman, 201 S.W.3d 667, 671-72 (Tex. 2006); Tex. Dep’t of Public Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Jimmy Maspero and Regina Maspero, Individually, and as Next Friends of Wyitt Maspero, Wynnsday Maspero, Wesley Maspero, and Walter Maspero, Minor Children v. City of San Antonio
Tex. App. · 2019 · confidence medium
Tex. Dep’t of Public Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238 (Tex. App.— Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
cited Cited as authority (rule) City of San Antonio by and Through City Public Service Board of San Antonio D/B/A CPS Energy v. Chris Smith
Tex. App. · 2018 · confidence medium
Texas Dep’t of Public Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Texas Department of Transportation A/K/A TXDOT v. Martina Jackson, Individually and on Behalf of Her Husband, Keith Jackson, and Carly Rose Jackson, and Lara Marie Jackson
Tex. App. · 2017 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Norma Torres v. City of Corpus Christi
Tex. App. · 2016 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (dispatch call requesting assistance with wanted person was an emergency call when officer testified without contradiction that law enforcement officers consider such a request to be an emergency); see also City of Houston v. Davis, No. 01–13–00600–CV, 2014 WL 1678907 , at *5 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Apr. 24, 2014, no. pet.) (mem. op.) (officer was responding to 10 emergency situation when he pulled over car in response to a report that driver of the car had tried to run another vehicle off the…
cited Cited as authority (rule) Adriana P. Perez v. Webb County
Tex. App. · 2015 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
examined Cited as authority (rule) Adriana P. Perez v. Webb County (6×) also: Cited "see, e.g."
Tex. App. · 2015 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (officer responded to dispatch call requesting assistance with a wanted person, officer testified without contradiction that law enforcement officers consider such requests to be an emergency).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Adriana P. Perez v. Webb County
Tex. App. · 2015 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
examined Cited as authority (rule) Nancy Quested v. the City of Houston (5×) also: Cited "see"
Tex. App. · 2014 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (noting plaintiffs attempt to gather information regarding officer’s subjective belief did not change fact that officer actually received emergency call); see also Klumb, 405 S.W.3d at 227 (noting subjective views are irrelevant to questions of law).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Paula Collins v. City of Houston, Texas (2×) also: Cited "see"
Tex. App. · 2014 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238-39 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
examined Cited as authority (rule) Nancy Quested v. the City of Houston (4×) also: Cited "see"
Tex. App. · 2014 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (noting plaintiff’s attempt to gather information regarding officer’s subjective belief did not change fact that officer actually received emergency call); see also Klumb, 405 S.W.3d at 227 (noting subjective views are irrelevant to questions of law).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) the City of Houston v. Stephon Lamar Davis (2×) also: Cited "see"
Tex. App. · 2014 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (where officer did not learn that emergency situation did not exist until later, but was responding to mis-coded emergency call, no fact issue was raised regarding whether emergency exception applied).
cited Cited as authority (rule) San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office v. Sabrina Butler and April Thibodeaux A/N/F of Jayden Yavonne Thibodeaux
Tex. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238-39 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Kaufman County v. Leggett, Christopher
Tex. App. · 2012 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 238-40 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.); see also Hartman, 201 S.W.3d at 672 .
cited Cited as authority (rule) City of San Antonio v. Shawn Rosenbaum, Individually and as Heir at Law to Diane Rosenbaum and as Guardian and Next Friend of Thomas Rosenbaum, a Minor, and Thomas Rosenbaum
Tex. App. · 2011 · confidence medium
Safety v. Little, 259 S.W.3d 236, 239-40 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no pet.) (holding subjective belief was not controlling).
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Appellant
v.
Sheatri LITTLE, Appellee
14-07-00840-CV.
Court of Appeals of Texas.
May 29, 2008.
259 S.W.3d 236
Michael P. Murphy, Austin, for appellants., Toni M. Triplett, Houston, for appellees.
Eva M. Guzman.
Cited by 24 opinions  |  Published

OPINION

EVA M. GUZMAN, Justice.

In this accelerated interlocutory appeal, the Texas Department of Public Safety challenges the trial court’s denial of its assertions of governmental immunity. Ap-pellee Sheatri Little alleges that she was injured when the Department’s employee, Trooper Sean Cheshire, negligently drove[*237] his patrol car into the vehicle in which Little was a passenger. Because the Department produced conclusive evidence that Cheshire was responding to an emergency call at the time of the accident and Little does not contend that Cheshire failed to comply with applicable law, we reverse and render judgment dismissing the suit.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Although the parties dispute the legal implications of the facts in this case, the facts themselves are uncontroverted. Trooper Cheshire was dining with three other troopers on the evening of August 23, 2003, when he received a dispatch call to respond to a “10-99.” This code signified that an officer requested assistance with a wanted person. [1] Cheshire testified without contradiction that law enforcement officers consider such a request to be an emergency.

In response to the call, Cheshire left the other troopers and began driving south to the location identified by the dispatcher. Cheshire may have been traveling five or ten miles over the speed limit, and he did not use the vehicle’s siren. He testified that he activated his emergency fights to cross an intersection and a railroad crossing, then deactivated the lights.

After he had been driving for three or four minutes, Cheshire slowed the vehicle as he attempted to contact the dispatcher using a cellular telephone. As he stated in a memorandum to his superior officer, Cheshire wanted to contact the dispatcher regarding “the urgency of the call, due to the fact that [he] was the only DPS unit dispatched.” While he was looking at the telephone, Cheshire inadvertently allowed his vehicle to cross the opposing lane of traffic and enter the shoulder of the northbound lane. While attempting to reenter the roadway, Cheshire lost control of the vehicle and collided with a northbound vehicle in which Little was a passenger. Cheshire testified that he saw no other traffic prior to the accident. He admits he “was inattentive to the roadway conditions.”

Two years after the accident, Little filed suit, alleging that the Department is liable because her injuries were proximately caused by the wrongful act or omission or the negligence of an employee acting within his scope of employment in operating a motor vehicle. See Tex. Civ. Prao. & Rem. Code Ann. § 101.021(1) (Vernon 2005). She does not allege that Cheshire was reckless or that his actions did not comply with applicable law. The Department included a plea to the jurisdiction in its answer, and more than five months later, Little amended her petition. The Department reasserted its plea to the jurisdiction and moved for summary judgment. The trial court denied both and this accelerated interlocutory appeal timely followed.

II. Issues Presented

In two issues, the Department challenges the trial court’s denial of its plea to the jurisdiction and its motion for summary judgment.

III. Analysis

A. Plea to the Jurisdiction

In a suit against a governmental unit, the plaintiff must affirmatively dem[*238] onstrate the trial court’s jurisdiction by alleging a valid waiver of immunity. Dallas Area Rapid Transit v. Whitley, 104 S.W.3d 540, 542 (Tex.2003). To determine if the plaintiff has met that burden, “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.” Id. (quoting Tex. Natural Res. Conservation Comm’n v. White, 46 S.W.3d 864, 868 (Tex.2001)). We review de novo a trial court’s ruling on a jurisdictional plea, construing the pleadings in the plaintiffs favor and looking to the pleader’s intent. Tex. Dep’t of Pub. Safety v. Grisham, 232 S.W.3d 822, 824-25 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, no pet.).

1. Burden of Proof

The Department moved to dismiss on the grounds that “its sovereign immunity has not been waived under the Tort Claims Act pursuant to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 101.055(2) (Vernon 2005).” This provision is an exception to the waiver of sovereign immunity under the Act, and applies to claims against a governmental unit arising:

from the action of an employee while responding to an emergency call or reacting to an emergency situation if the action is in compliance with the laws and ordinances applicable to emergency action, or in the absence of such a law or ordinance, if the action is not taken with conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others....

Id. This is sometimes referred to as the “emergency exception” to the Tort Claims Act. [2] Little responds that the City must prove that sovereign immunity was not waived by producing evidence that Cheshire acted in compliance with applicable law and was actually responding to an emergency call.

A recent Texas Supreme Court case clarifies the burden of proof under the “emergency exception.” See City of San Antonio v. Hartman, 201 S.W.3d 667, 672 (Tex.2006). The Hartman case arose from “a rainstorm of historic proportions” during which the City of San Antonio was declared a disaster area. Id. at 669. The City placed barricades at locations throughout the city to warn motorists of flooded roadways. Id. At least one barricade faced west on Rigsby Avenue near a creek crossing; nevertheless, a vehicle carrying four members of the Hartman family was driven into the flooded roadway and swept away. Id. All four occupants drowned, and their survivors sued the City. Id. In response, the City asserted the emergency exception to the Tort Claims Act. Id.

The Texas Supreme Court explained the interaction between the plaintiffs pleadings and the burden of proof on the plea to the jurisdiction:

The Hartmans do not assert that any law or ordinance governed the placement of barricades on Rigsby Avenue. Nor do they assert that the City’s acts or omissions show that it did not care what happened to motorists. Accordingly, this exception to the Tort Claims Act applies unless the Hartmans presented some evidence that City employees were not reacting to an emergency situation.

Id. at 672. As in Hartman, the plaintiff in this case “[does] not assert that any law or ordinance governed” the actions of the government official-here, Trooper Che[*239] shire. See id. And as in Hartman, the plaintiff in the present case does not “assert that the [governments acts or omissions show that it did not care what happened to motorists.” See id. Thus, the emergency exception to the Tort Claims Act applies unless Little presented some evidence that Cheshire was not reacting to an emergency situation or responding to an emergency call. See id. In sum, Hartman places the burden on the plaintiff to produce sufficient evidence to raise a fact issue concerning whether the government employee was responding to an emergency.

2. Jurisdictional Evidence

Here, Little attempts to meet her burden by relying on the fact that Cheshire had reduced his speed and was not using the patrol car’s emergency lights or sirens at the time of the accident. But as previously noted, she does not assert that his actions violated any laws, ordinances, or policies. And in the absence of such factors, the use of emergency lights or sirens is discretionary. See Tex. Transp. Code AnN. §§ 546.003, 546.004 (Vernon 1999).

Little also argues that at the time of the accident, Cheshire did not subjectively believe that he was responding to an emergency situation, or he doubted the emergency nature of the call. In support of this position, Little relies on Cheshire’s memorandum to his superior officer [3] and on his deposition testimony:

Q: At the time that this incident occurred, you were questioning in your mind as to whether or not this was truly an emergency call, were you not?
A: I was — at the time I was trying to find out to ensure that it was an emergency call to negate the need for an emergency response.

According to Cheshire’s uncontroverted testimony, several units are usually dispatched in response to a “10-99,” but to his knowledge, he was the only trooper who was asked to respond in this instance. Thus, he attempted to telephone the dispatcher for clarification or confirmation.

Cheshire’s attempt to gather more information does not change the fact that he actually received a “10-99,” which is an emergency call. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 101.055(2) (Vernon 2005) (governing immunity for claims arising from a governmental employee’s actions while “responding to an emergency call,” as well as the employee’s reactions to an “emergency situation”) (emphasis added). At the time of the accident, Cheshire was continuing to respond to the emergency call by driving to the location identified by the dispatcher.

Finally, Little points out that the dispatcher miscoded the call. In fact, the dispatcher should have identified the request as a “10-66,” indicating that an officer requested assistance with a Department warrant. According to Cheshire, the majority of such warrants are traffic citations and could be non-emergencies. It is undisputed, however, that Cheshire did not learn of the dispatcher’s error until after the accident. Thus, he was responding to an “emergency call,” even though the call did not correspond to the “emergency situation” it purported to identify.

In sum, the evidence produced by the Department in support of its plea to the jurisdiction conclusively establishes that Cheshire was responding to an emergency call at the time of the accident, while none[*240] of the evidence on which Little relies controverts that evidence or otherwise raises a genuine issue of material fact. We therefore reverse the trial court’s order denying the Department’s plea to the jurisdiction and dismiss the case for want of jurisdiction. In light of our disposition of this issue, we do not reach the Department’s challenge to the trial court’s denial of its motion for summary judgment.

IV. Conclusion

Because the Department established its entitlement to governmental immunity, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and dismiss the case for want of jurisdiction.

1

. Cheshire testified, "A 10-99 subject is a wanted person. And when an officer is asking for assistance with a 10-99 subject, it is considered by law enforcement officers as an emergency call similar to an officer down.” Corporal Victor Gails also testified, "Our dispatcher called Trooper Cheshire to go assist a game warden who was out on a wanted person.”

2

. See, e.g., Pakdimounivong v. City of Arlington, 219 S.W.3d 401, 410 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2006, pet. denied); Durham v. Bowie County, 135 S.W.3d 294, 297-98 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2004, pet. denied); Borrego v. City of El Paso, 964 S.W.2d 954, 957-58 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1998, pet. denied).

3

. As discussed supra at 237, Cheshire stated that he wanted to contact the dispatcher regarding "the urgency of the call, due to the fact that [he] was the only DPS unit dispatched.”