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Texas 13th Court of Appeals — Corpus Christi-Edinburg
ESC Wins Dismissal of Contractual Lawsuit
That Resulted from Injuries at a Conference
Ruling: The fact that education service centers are units of state government — and not local governments like ISDs — means that a breach of contract lawsuit against an ESC must be dismissed. Education Service Center Region 2 v. Global Spectrum, LP D/B/A, Spectra Venue Management and Nueces County, No. 13-21-00071-CV. Issued June 30.

This dispute revolves around injuries sustained by two people who fell off a stage during a parental conference — sponsored by Region 2 (Corpus Christi) Education Service Center (ESC) — that was held in a rented facility on the Nueces County fairgrounds. The injured attendees sued the fairgrounds owner (Nueces County), the company the county hired to manage the fairgrounds, and the company the fairgrounds manager hired to set up the facility for the conference.

The county and the two companies in turn sued the ESC for breach of contract on claims that the service center failed to honor a clause in the lease agreement for the event to “idemnify, defend and hold harmless” the county and the companies, their employees, and several other parties. The licensing agreement also required Region 2 to obtain commercial general liability insurance that would provide coverage for the plaintiffs.

Region 2 appealed after the trial judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit.

A three-member Thirteenth Court panel, in this decision, unanimously ordered the lawsuit against Region 2 dismissed on findings that education service centers are agencies of the state — and thus have sovereign immunity, which differs from the governmental immunity assigned to local governmental entities, such as ISDs and cities.

This ruling explains that although breach of contract lawsuits against ISDs and other entities with governmental immunity can be resolved via the courts, these types of claims against entities with sovereign immunity are to be resolved outside the court system in a multi-step process that starts with mediation and could include a hearing and a ruling by an administrative law judge.

Ultimately, it would be up to the Legislature to decide whether to pay — via a specific appropriation — a breach of contract claim against an entity with sovereign immunity, this decision notes.