Opinion
No. 10-09-00047-CV
Opinion delivered and filed December 30, 2009.
Appealed from the 52nd District Court, Coryell County, Texas, Trial Court No. COT-08-38463.
Before Chief Justice GRAY, Justice REYNA, and Justice DAVIS.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Copperas Cove Independent School District appeals the trial court's order denying the District's plea to the jurisdiction. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. REM. CODE ANN. § 51.014 (a)(8) (Vernon 2008). The District's sole issue on appeal is whether the legislature has clearly and unambiguously waived a school district's immunity from suit under Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code. Because the trial court did not err in denying the plea to the jurisdiction, we affirm the trial court's order.
Tammy R. Brown sued the District for sexual harassment under Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code, otherwise known as the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. TEX. LABOR CODE ANN. § 21.001, et seq. (Vernon 2006 Supp 2009). The District filed a plea to the jurisdiction claiming, as it does on appeal, that school districts are not employers as defined by Chapter 21 and therefore, immunity is not waived. See id § 21.002(8) (Vernon Supp. 2009). The District makes a very interesting and intellectually stimulating argument, and if we were writing on a clean slate, we would be inclined to pursue that argument. However, the Texas Supreme Court has already spoken on the subject and has held that immunity is waived as to a school district under Chapter 21. Mission Consol. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Garcia, 253 S.W.3d 653, 660 (Tex. 2008). Granted, there is not much discussion about how the Supreme Court reached that decision; but it is a decision nonetheless, and we must abide by that decision. See Lubbock County v. Trammel's Lubbock Bail Bonds, 80 S.W.3d 580, 585 (Tex. 2002). Because the Texas Supreme Court has held that a school district's immunity is waived under Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code, we hold the trial court did not err in denying the District's plea to the jurisdiction. The District's sole error is overruled.
Accordingly, the trial court's order is affirmed.