Opinion
No. 14-04-00456-CV
Memorandum Opinion filed October 26, 2004.
On Appeal from the 152nd District Court Harris County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. 02-57567.
Dismissed.
Panel consists of Justices YATES, EDELMAN, and GUZMAN.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
In this interlocutory appeal, appellant, City of Houston, contends that the trial court erred in denying its plea to the jurisdiction based on lack of notice under section 101.101 of the Texas Tort Claims Act. Because we lack jurisdiction to consider this appeal, we dismiss.
This case arose out of a collision between two dump trucks in October 2001. Appellees Rodney Siener and Manuel Mata, the driver and owner, respectively, of one dump truck brought an action against City of Houston, Harris County (owner of the other dump truck), and Paul Whigham (driver of the Harris County-owned dump truck). Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, "[a] governmental unit is entitled to receive notice of a claim against it" within six months of the incident giving rise to the claim. TEX. CIV. PRAC. REM. CODE ANN. § 101.101 (Vernon 1997). In its plea to the jurisdiction, City of Houston alleged that it did not receive such notice and that, therefore, the trial court did not have subject matter jurisdiction. The trial court denied the plea to the jurisdiction, and City of Houston subsequently filed a notice of appeal.
The Texas Supreme Court recently held that a plaintiff's failure to comply with the notice requirement of section 101.101 of the Texas Tort Claims Act does not deprive a trial court of subject matter jurisdiction. Univ. of Tex. Southwestern Med. Ctr. v. Loutzenhiser, 140 S.W.3d 351, 364-65 (Tex. 2004). In a different case decided the same day, the Texas Supreme Court elaborated on this issue, stating that "[s]ince notice under section 101.101 is not jurisdictional, an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a plea to the jurisdiction based on lack of such notice is not allowed." Tex. Dep't of Criminal Justice v. Simons, 140 S.W.3d 338, 349 (Tex. 2004) (footnote omitted). Because this interlocutory appeal is from the denial of a plea to the jurisdiction based on lack of notice under section 101.101 of the Texas Tort Claims Act, we lack the jurisdiction to decide this case. Id.
For the reasons stated above, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.