Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Emmanuel Gonzalez alleged that Texas Army National Guard member Esteven Dave Rosales rear-ended his vehicle on Interstate 2 in Pharr, Texas, damaging the vehicle and injuring Gonzalez. Rosales was on active duty supporting Operation Lone Star and was driving a vehicle rented by the Texas Military Department.
According to undisputed affidavits, Rosales and two other active-duty service members had received oral orders to travel from McAllen to Brownsville for road-construction and barrier-installation work. Gonzalez sued TMD for negligence, negligence per se, and respondeat superior, asserting that the Texas Tort Claims Act’s motor-vehicle provision waived immunity. The trial court granted TMD’s plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed the suit.
The Court’s Holding
The Thirteenth Court of Appeals affirmed. Although the TTCA generally waives immunity for certain injuries and property damage caused by a government employee’s negligent operation of a motor vehicle, that waiver does not apply to claims arising from activities of state military forces while on active duty under lawful orders.
The court held that Rosales was engaged in an activity of the state military forces because he was on active duty and was actively following a specific oral order to travel to the Brownsville worksite when the collision occurred. His trip was therefore not merely an ordinary commute. The court declined both TMD’s broader position that virtually anything done during active-duty orders is immune and Gonzalez’s proposed requirement that the conduct have a uniquely military character, emphasizing that the inquiry is fact-intensive and case-specific.
Key Takeaways
- The TTCA’s motor-vehicle waiver does not apply when a claim arises from activities of state military forces conducted on active duty under lawful orders.
- Travel undertaken in direct compliance with a commanding officer’s specific order can qualify as an activity of the state military forces, even when the service member does not depart from another duty station.
- The court left open whether an ordinary commute without a specific travel order would fall within the military-activities exception.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that sovereign-immunity disputes involving active-duty Texas military personnel turn on the particular circumstances surrounding the challenged conduct. A specific order directing a service member’s travel may defeat the TTCA’s motor-vehicle waiver even when the underlying negligence resembles an ordinary traffic accident.
At the same time, the court rejected a categorical rule immunizing every act occurring during an active-duty period, preserving a case-by-case inquiry into whether the conduct was an activity of the state military forces.