jimlongley wrote:G.A. Heath wrote:Kyle Brown wrote:Property owned/leased by Texas ISDs is not government propery. All Texas ISD property (Real and Personal) is privately owned/leased by the Board of Trustees.
Can you provide evidence supporting this claim? As far as I can tell an ISD holds public elections along side government entities, they tax private property, they are exempt from sales tax, can assert eminent domain, have a police force, and act like a government in other ways. To convince me otherwise I would need to see some codified law or case law that says ISDs are not a governmental body.
Until there is supporting case law, the ISDs will continue to assert that they are not governmental entities and exempt from the exemption. As of right now there is no such case law, and that is their interpretation of the code.
Except in all the cases when they assert (under oath/and/or in Pleadings) they are a Governmental entity, therefore enjoy sovereign immunity
under:
Texas Tort Claims Act
CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE
TITLE 5. GOVERNMENTAL LIABILITY
CHAPTER 101. TORT CLAIMS
(School Districts plead under oath that they ARE Governmental Subdivisions of the State ... and they do it often....and here's the Code defining them as such, as well as their motive for pleading such.)
Sec. 101.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(3) "Governmental unit" means:
(A) this state and all the several agencies of government that collectively constitute the government of this state, including other agencies bearing different designations, and all departments, bureaus, boards, commissions, offices, agencies, councils, and courts;
(B) a political subdivision of this state, including any city, county, school district, junior college district, levee improvement district, drainage district, irrigation district, water improvement district, water control and improvement district, water control and preservation district, freshwater supply district, navigation district, conservation and reclamation district, soil conservation district, communication district, public health district, and river authority;
SUBCHAPTER B. TORT LIABILITY OF GOVERNMENTAL UNITS
Sec. 101.021. GOVERNMENTAL LIABILITY. A governmental unit in the state is liable for:
(1) property damage, personal injury, and death proximately caused by the wrongful act or omission or the negligence of an employee acting within his scope of employment if:
(A) the property damage, personal injury, or death arises from the operation or use of a motor-driven vehicle or motor-driven equipment; and
(B) the employee would be personally liable to the claimant according to Texas law; and
(2) personal injury and death so caused by a condition or use of tangible personal or real property if the governmental unit would, were it a private person, be liable to the claimant according to Texas law.
Sec. 101.023. LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF LIABILITY. (a) Liability of the state government under this chapter is limited to money damages in a maximum amount of $250,000 for each person and $500,000 for each single occurrence for bodily injury or death and $100,000 for each single occurrence for injury to or destruction of property.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), liability of a unit of local government under this chapter is limited to money damages in a maximum amount of $100,000 for each person and $300,000 for each single occurrence for bodily injury or death and $100,000 for each single occurrence for injury to or destruction of property.
(c) Liability of a municipality under this chapter is limited to money damages in a maximum amount of $250,000 for each person and $500,000 for each single occurrence for bodily injury or death and $100,000 for each single occurrence for injury to or destruction of property.
(d) Except as provided by Section 78.001, liability of an emergency service organization under this chapter is limited to money damages in a maximum amount of $100,000 for each person and $300,000 for each single occurrence for bodily injury or death and $100,000 for each single occurrence for injury to or destruction of property.
SUBCHAPTER C. EXCLUSIONS AND EXCEPTIONS
Sec. 101.051. SCHOOL AND JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICTS PARTIALLY EXCLUDED. Except as to motor vehicles, this chapter does not apply to a school district or to a junior college district.
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D ... CP.101.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So, if you want quick proof ... find a suit which does not involve a motor vehicle and someone sued the school district for-kid fell down stairs/got hurt on playground etc and get the school's Original Answer to the Petition+Motion for Summary Judgement etc and the judge's dismissal order etc
I'm no lawyer, but was accepted to law school 3 times and retired after 25 years as a legal Asst and used to be a member of the State Bar Legal Assts Div....now, I'm jus lazy and sleepin' at a Holiday Inn ... sometimes.
