HOUSTON — The First Court of Appeals has dismissed a personal injury lawsuit alleging a city of Houston fire truck caused a motor-vehicle collision.
Court records show Danielle Williams, individually and as next friend of D.C., sued the city under the Texas Tort Claims Act.
According to the lawsuit, on December 3, 2022, D.C. was in a car traveling northbound on North Main Street when a city employee driving a fire truck changed lanes and collided with the vehicle.
The Houston Police Department crash report stated that the fire truck changed lanes when not safe” and struck the car being driven by Remona Jones. While the report identified other Joneses in the vehicle, it did not identify D.C. as a passenger.
The city moved to dismiss Williams’s claims, arguing that it was immune from suit because it had no actual notice of Williams’s personal injury claims, according to the First Court’s Aug. 18 opinion.
“The crash report did not mention either Williams or D.C. was a passenger in the Joneses’ car or had suffered any injuries in the collision,” the opinion states. “Nor did Williams deliver a formal notice of claim to the City Secretary within the prescribed time.”
The city also asserted that Williams failed to provide timely formal notice of the alleged injuries.
Williams responded that the crash report gave the city actual knowledge of her claims on behalf of D.C. and alternatively, the Joneses’ timely formal notices of claims gave rise to an inference of actual notice.
Court records show the trial court denied the motion and the city appealed, arguing that court erred because Williams and D.C. failed to provide timely notice of claim and the city had no actual notice that D.C. was in the car with the Joneses or suffered any injury in the collision.
“Because the undisputed evidence shows that Williams did not comply with the formal notice requirements and the City did not have actual notice of D.C.’s alleged injuries, we hold that the trial court erred in denying the City’s motion to dismiss,” the opinion states.
“We reverse the trial court’s order and render judgment dismissing Williams’s claims for lack of jurisdiction.”
Appeals case No. 01-24-00913-CV
