Use of Hazard Lights Was Not "Operation or Use" of Vehicle Under Tort Claims Act
In Morales v. Barnett, the Third Court of Appeals has affirmed the trial court's order dismissing a wrongful death suit against the Luling Independent School District on the ground that sovereign immunity had not been waived. The court of appeals held that the incident did not "arise[] from the operation or use of a motor-driven vehicle" for purposes of the Tort Claims Act (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.021(1)) because the district's jurisdictional evidence negated any causal nexus between a coach's use of hazard flashers while parked beside the road and an athlete's death from being struck by another car. The appellate court further concluded that the coach's decisions were supervisory in nature and thus could not give rise to a waiver of immunity.
