Supreme Court of Texas

Individual injured at Garner State Park by a falling tree limb failed to raise a genuine factual issue regarding the Department's alleged gross negligence; because a governmental unit waives sovereign immunity under the recreational use statute and the Tort Claims Act only if it is grossly negligent, the case is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/30/2002
• Decided 04/02/2004
• Published 04/02/2004

Judges

• Justice WAINWRIGHT delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to parts I., II., III.A., III.B., III.C.2., III.C.3., III.D., and IV., in which Chief Justice PHILLIPS, Justice HECHT, Justice OWEN, and Justice SMITH joined, and a plurality opinion with respect to Part III.C.1., in which Chief Justice PHILLIPS, Justice HECHT, and Justice SMITH joined.

Court

• Supreme Court of Texas

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Howard G. Baldwin, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Jeffrey S. Boyd, Thompson & Knight, Harry W. Deckard, Office of Attorney General, Nelly R. Herrera, Office of Attorney General, Julie Caruthers Parsley, Public Utility Com'n, and Lisa Royce Eskow, Attorney General's Office, Austin, for Petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Emmett R. Harris, Law Office of R. Emmett Harris, Jerry Don Evans, Uvalde, TX, for Respondent.