Township not liable for property damage due to fallen tree limb.

Jason Creel v. The Woodlands Township, 09-12-00525-CV (Tex. App. – Beaumont, October 17, 2013).

This is a short summary of a Texas Tort Claims Act case where the trial court granted the Township’s plea to the jurisdiction and the Plaintiff appealed.

Plaintiff Creel alleges the township failed to maintain trees, which had limbs which fell onto his property damaging it.  After amending his pleadings three times he continued to assert that sovereign immunity was waived for premise defects.  However, property damages are not recoverable in a premises-liability claim against a governmental unit under sections 101.021(2) and 101.022 of the Tort Claims Act. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.021(2).  As a result the trial court properly granted the Township’s plea to the jurisdiction.

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