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Texas Tech University Health Science Center v. Jackson

Lisa Jackson brought suit against Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) alleging the medical negligence of one of its employees. TTUHSC filed an original answer which included a plea to the jurisdiction, complaining that Jackson's claims do not fall within the Texas Tort Claims Act's limited waiver of sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the motion. It is undisputed that Jackson herself caused the injury when she accidently pierced her eye with a needle and the needle broke. It is also undisputed that bacteria from that needle led to an infection in Jackson's eye and ultimately to the removal of the eye and replacement with a prosthetic. Jackson's allegations fail to meet the causation requirement because the tangible personal property involved, a bandage contact lens, did not injure Jackson. The real substance of Jackson's cause of action is the doctor's failure to act. As such, her claim does not fall within the act's waiver of immunity. The trial court's judgment is reversed and judgment rendered dismissing with prejudice Jackson's suit for want of subject-matter jurisdiction. El Paso Court of Appeals, No. 08-10-00363-CV, 09-21-2011.

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OPINION

This is an interlocutory appeal from the trial court’s denial of a plea to the jurisdiction. Lisa Jackson brought suit against Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) alleging the medical negligence of one of its employees, Dr. Neil Adams. Specifically, Jackson alleged that: “Dr. Neil Adams, in the course and scope of his employment with Texas Tech University Health Science Center Opthamology Clinic, was negligent for applying a ‘bandage contact’ over [Jackson's] injured eye rather than obtaining prompt surgical intervention” for a penetrating eye injury Jackson sustained while sewing in hair extensions. TTUHSC filed an original answer which included a plea to the jurisdiction, complaining that Jackson’s claims do not fall within the Texas Tort Claims Act’s limited waiver of sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the motion and this interlocutory appeal follows. See TEX.CIV.PRAC.&REM.CODE ANN. § 51.014(a)(8)(West 2008). We reverse.

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