City immune for claims of “general engineering work” since the contract was expressly for a specific project with no generalized work included
Naismith Engineering, Inc. v. The City of Aransas Pass, 13-18-00402-CV (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi, September 19, 2019)
This is a governmental immunity/contract case where the Corpus Christi court out of Edinburg affirmed the granting of the City’s plea to the jurisdiction.
The City Manager, with council approval, entered into a contract with Naismith Engineering, Inc (NEI) to design improvements to the boat-ramp area of the City’s Conn Brown Harbor (CBH project). The City sued NEI and its surety alleging there were deficiencies related to the CBH project. NEI subsequently counterclaimed to recover outstanding fees for work “general work” performed . NEI alleged that “[NEI] performed work ranging from general project services to general harbor engineering and planning and services for waterline extension….” The City filed a plea to the jurisdiction as to the counter-claim which was granted. NEI appealed.
The court declined to “apply the common law of contracts to a governmental immunity question” and held no contract existed for “general services” between the City and NEI. Therefore, no waiver of immunity exists. While NEI attempted to argue its counter-claim included unpaid fees for the CBH project, however, the evidence and statements of counsel made it clear the counter-claim was for other work which was simply near and around the boat ramp. A governmental entity retains immunity from suit as to those claims for monetary damages that are not germane to, connected with, and properly defensive to the entity’s claim. The counterclaim does not arise from the same transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the City’s claim and therefore no immunity is waived. The plea was properly granted.
If you would like to read this opinion click here. Panel consists of Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Longoria and Perkes. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Longoria. The attorneys listed for the City of Aransas Pass are Matthew B. Cano, James F. McKibben Jr. and Ken Fields. The attorneys listed for Naismith Engineering are Paul Dodson and John Swallow.
