Texas Logos, L.P. v. Brinkmeyer

The district court erred in granting the Media Choice LLC defendants' plea to the jurisdiction as to Texas Logos LP's common-law tort claims for damages. Austin Court of Appeals, 03-07-00032-CV

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OPINION

Since the Texas Department of Transportation awarded its “logo sign contract”*fn1 to a rival vendor, the vendor that had previously held the contract, Texas Logos, L.P., has filed two separate lawsuits alleging that a TxDOT engineer involved in the procurement, in combination with the winning vendor and others, had unlawfully skewed the procurement process so as to cause Texas Logos to lose the contract. In its first suit, Texas Logos sued TxDOT in Travis County district court seeking declaratory relief aimed ultimately at voiding the logo sign contract. The district court dismissed the suit against TxDOT for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. We affirmed, holding principally that Texas Logos’s declaratory claims seeking to invalidate an already executed contract with the State were barred by sovereign immunity. See Texas Logos, L.P. v. Texas Dep’t of Transp., 241 S.W.3d 105, 115-23 (Tex. App.–Austin 2007, no pet.) (Texas Logos I).

This appeal relates to Texas Logos’s second suit. After it filed its first suit, Texas Logos brought an action in Williamson County against: (1) the now-former TxDOT engineer, Gregory Brinkmeyer; (2) a consulting company that Brinkmeyer had formed, Hori-Zone Concepts, L.L.C.; (3) the vendor that won the logo sign contract, Media Choice, L.LC., and its affiliates, (4) Quorum Media Group, L.L.C. and (5) LoneStar Logos & Signs, L.L.C. (collectively, the Media Choice Defendants); and (6) Centerline Supply, Inc., a subcontractor who allegedly did business with both Brinkmeyer and the Media Choice Defendants. Texas Logos asserted common-law tort theories against the defendants and sought monetary damages and injunctive relief. The district court dismissed the suit for want of subject-matter jurisdiction. Because we conclude that the Williamson County district court possessed subject-matter jurisdiction over Texas Logos’s common-law tort damage claims against private parties, we reverse its judgment dismissing those claims and remand for further proceedings.

Texas Logos, L.P. v. Brinkmeyer

The district court erred in granting the Media Choice LLC defendants' plea to the jurisdiction as to Texas Logos LP's common-law tort claims for damages. Austin Court of Appeals, 03-07-00032-CV

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