Supreme Court Update: Dallas Metrocare Services v. Juarez

Last year, the Dallas Court of Appeals held that a plaintiff had properly alleged a waiver of sovereign immunity for a government body’s use or condition of tangible personal property, based on the allegation that an improperly secured whiteboard had fallen on the plaintiff. Dallas Metrocare Services v. Juarez, ___ S.W.3d ___ (Tex. App.–Dallas 2012). The Texas Supreme Court has now reversed that decision, citing its more recent decision in Rusk State Hospital v. Black, 392 S.W.3d 88 (Tex. 2012), for the proposition that the Court of Appeals should have considered Metrocare’s argument on appeal — not raised before the trial court — that the injury did not arise from the “condition” of the property. The Supreme Court also held that there was no waiver of immunity by Metrocare’s “use” of the whiteboard, since it had simply made the board available for use by patients. The case will now be remanded to the Court of Appeals for further consideration.

Dallas Metrocare Services v. Juarez, No. 12-0685