City of Houston v. Adaeze Shavon Meka, Christopher John Closure and Jamarcus Ward ( 2023 )

Opinion issued April 25, 2023
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
————————————
NO. 01-22-00002-CV
———————————
CITY OF HOUSTON, Appellant
V.
ADAEZE SHAVON MEKA, Appellee
On Appeal from the 129th District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Case No. 2018-76033
OPINION
The City of Houston (the City) appeals from the trial court’s denial of its
motion for summary judgment. Appellee Adaeze Shavon Meka brought suit against
the City pursuant to the Texas Tort Claims Act (the TTCA) for injuries she sustained
in a car accident involving a vehicle driven by a City employee. See TEX. CIV. PRAC.
& REM. CODE § 101.021(1) (waiving sovereign immunity for personal-injury claims
caused by negligence of governmental employee, acting within scope of his
employment in operating motor-driven vehicle, if that employee would be
personally liable to claimant). The City moved for summary judgment alleging that
because Meka failed to serve the City with citation before the running of the
applicable statute of limitations, and because compliance with statutes of limitations
is jurisdictional in suits against a governmental entity, the trial court lacked subject-
matter jurisdiction. See TEX. GOV’T CODE § 311.034 (“Statutory prerequisites to a
suit, including the provision of notice, are jurisdictional requirements in all suits
against a governmental entity.”). The trial court denied the motion for summary
judgment, and the City filed this interlocutory appeal. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.
CODE § 51.014(a)(8).
We affirm.
Background
This suit arises from a May 7, 2018 motor vehicle collision involving Meka,
Christopher John Closure, Jamarcus Ward,1 and Jean Alphone Dorelus, a City
1
Closure and Ward separately sued the City and Meka, and their lawsuit was
eventually consolidated with Meka’s later-filed lawsuit against the City and
Dorelus. The trial court granted the City’s motion to dismiss Dorelus under Section
101.106(e) of the TTCA. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 101.106(e) (“If a suit
is filed under this chapter against both a governmental unit and any of its employees,
the employees shall immediately be dismissed on the filing of a motion by the
governmental unit.”). Closure and Ward are not parties to this appeal.
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employee who was driving a City-owned vehicle at the time of the accident. On
December 13, 2019, within the applicable two-year statute of limitations, Meka sued
the City and Dorelus, alleging that she suffered personal injuries as a result of the
accident. See id. § 16.003(a) (“[A] person must bring suit for . . . personal injury . . .
not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues.”). The City was
never served with citation for Meka’s original petition.
On January 7, 2021, Meka filed her first amended petition, alleging claims for
personal injuries against Dorelus and the City under the TTCA based on the accident.
Meka served the City with citation on January 11, 2021, eight months after the
expiration of the two-year statute of limitations. The City answered and asserted a
general denial as well as affirmative defenses, including immunity from suit.
On January 22, 2021, the City moved for traditional summary judgment on
limitations and immunity. Specifically, the City argued that Meka’s claims should
be dismissed because she failed to serve the City with citation before the applicable
limitations period had expired. Meka responded, arguing that she exercised diligence
in attempting to serve the City and, alternatively, the Texas Supreme Court’s
Emergency Orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic tolled the
applicable statute of limitations until June 1, 2021. Because she filed and served the
City before June 1, 2021, Meka argued that she complied with the limitations period
and that the trial court should deny the City’s motion for summary judgment.
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The trial court held an oral hearing on the City’s motion for summary
judgment on December 10, 2021, and denied the City’s motion the same day. On
December 30, 2021, the City filed this timely interlocutory appeal.
Appellate Jurisdiction
In her response brief, Meka contends that we lack appellate jurisdiction
because compliance with the TTCA’s statute of limitations is not jurisdictional. The
City’s summary judgment, according to Meka, did not raise a jurisdictional issue
and the City’s appeal therefore is not authorized under Texas Civil Practice and
Remedies Code Section 51.014(a)(8). Because this question implicates our appellate
jurisdiction, we consider it first.
The City filed its motion for summary judgment, in which it raised the issue
of governmental immunity based on Meka’s failure to serve the City with citation
within the two-year limitations period applicable to Meka’s TTCA claims. See TEX.
CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 16.003(a). Section 51.014(a)(8) of the Texas Civil
Practice and Remedies Code authorizes an interlocutory appeal from the “grant[] or
deni[al] [of] a plea to the jurisdiction by a governmental unit[.]” Id. § 51.014(a)(8).
Because the City’s motion for summary judgment raised the issue of immunity,
regardless of whether the motion was styled as a plea to the jurisdiction and
regardless of whether we ultimately conclude that the City was entitled to dismissal
based on immunity, we have appellate jurisdiction to hear the City’s appeal. See
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PHI, Inc. v. Tex. Juv. Just. Dep’t, 593 S.W.3d 296, 301 n.1 (Tex. 2019) (holding
appellate court had jurisdiction over appeal from denial of combined plea to
jurisdiction and motion for summary judgment, regardless of how pleading was
styled, because substance of pleading raised sovereign immunity, which implicates
subject-matter jurisdiction); Harris Cnty. v. Sykes, 136 S.W.3d 635, 638 (Tex. 2004)
(“If the trial court denies the governmental entity’s claim of no jurisdiction, whether
it has been asserted by a plea to the jurisdiction, a motion for summary judgment, or
otherwise, the Legislature has provided that an interlocutory appeal may be
brought.”); Tex. Dep’t of Crim. Just. v. Simons, 140 S.W.3d 338, 349 (Tex. 2004)
(“The reference to ‘plea to the jurisdiction’ [in Section 51.014] is not to a particular
procedural vehicle but to the substance of the issue raised. Thus, an interlocutory
appeal may be taken from a refusal to dismiss for want of jurisdiction whether the
jurisdictional argument is presented by plea to the jurisdiction or some other vehicle,
such as a motion for summary judgment.”).
We turn to the merits of the City’s appeal.
Sovereign Immunity and Statute of Limitations
The City argues that the trial court erred by refusing to dismiss Meka’s claims
despite Meka failing to exercise diligence in serving the City with citation within the
applicable limitations period. Meka responds that compliance with the statute of
limitations and service of citation is not jurisdictional and, even if it was, the Texas
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Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
extended the statute of limitations.
A. Standard of Review
“Sovereign immunity bars suits against the state and its entities, and this
immunity remains intact unless surrendered in express and unequivocal terms by a
clear and unambiguous statutory waiver.” Prairie View A&M Univ. v. Chatha, 381
S.W.3d 500, 512 (Tex. 2012). Meka pleaded her case under the TTCA, which waives
sovereign immunity for personal-injury claims caused by the negligence of an
employee, acting within the scope of his employment in operating a motor-driven
vehicle, if that employee would be personally liable to the claimant. See TEX. CIV.
PRAC. & REM. CODE § 101.021(1). Section 311.034 of the Code Construction Act,
set forth in the Government Code, specifies that “[s]tatutory prerequisites to a suit,
including the provision of notice, are jurisdictional requirements in all suits against
a governmental entity.” TEX. GOV’T CODE § 311.034.
“[I]t is the Legislature’s function to determine what steps a litigant must take
before the state’s immunity is waived.” Chatha, 381 S.W.3d at 513. The Legislature
“establishes the timeline for filing suit and the mandatory tasks that must be
completed before filing.” Id. at 514. It is “within the Legislature’s discretion to
determine the procedures required before the State’s immunity is waived.” Id. at 513.
“[A] statutory provision that is mandatory and must be complied with before filing
6
suit is sufficient to fall within the ambit of section 311.034.” Id. at 514 (emphasis
added). In a statutory cause of action against a governmental entity, like this TTCA
suit against the City, failure to comply with the statute’s mandatory provisions that
must be accomplished before filing suit is a jurisdictional bar to suit. See id. at 511,
512.
Sovereign immunity implicates a court’s subject-matter jurisdiction, and
because subject-matter jurisdiction is a question of law, we review the trial court’s
ruling on the City’s motion for summary judgment de novo. See Ben Bolt-Palito
Blanco Consol. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Tex. Pol. Subdivs. Prop./Cas. Joint Self-Ins.
Fund, 212 S.W.3d 320, 323 (Tex. 2006); City of Houston v. McGriff, No. 01-21-
00487-CV, 2022 WL 17684046, at *6 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Dec. 15,
2022, no pet.). Because the jurisdictional issue here involves statutory construction,
it presents a question of law that we also review de novo. See Galbraith Eng’g
Consultants, Inc. v. Pochucha, 290 S.W.3d 863, 867 (Tex. 2009). We rely on
statutory-interpretation principles to ascertain and effectuate the Legislature’s intent
as expressed by the statute’s language. Chatha, 381 S.W.3d at 511.
B. Sovereign Immunity and Jurisdictional Prerequisites to Suit
The defense of limitations is classified generally as an affirmative defense that
is not jurisdictional in nature. In re United Servs. Auto. Ass’n, 307 S.W.3d 299, 308
(Tex. 2010) (orig. proceeding). Section 311.034 of the Government Code, however,
7
provides that “[s]tatutory prerequisites to a suit, including the provision of notice,
are jurisdictional requirements in all suits against a governmental entity.” TEX.
GOV’T CODE § 311.034; see also Chatha, 381 S.W.3d at 510 (citing TEX. GOV’T
CODE § 311.034) (“The Legislature has mandated that all statutory prerequisites to
suit are jurisdictional in suits against governmental entities.”). This is true with
respect to both administrative and procedural prerequisites to suit. Specifically, the
Texas Supreme Court has clarified that “a statutory prerequisite to suit, whether
administrative (such as filing a charge of discrimination) or procedural (such as
timely filing a lawsuit) is jurisdictional when the defendant is a governmental
entity.” Chatha, 381 S.W.3d at 515 (citing TEX. GOV’T CODE § 311.034).
In Chatha, the Texas Supreme Court established a three-step test to determine
whether a condition set by statute is a jurisdictional “prerequisite to suit.” Id. at 511.
First, to fall within the purview of Section 311.034, the “prerequisite must be found
in the relevant statutory language.” Id. at 512. “Second, the prerequisite must be a
requirement.” Id. “And finally, the term ‘pre’ indicates the requirement must be met
before the lawsuit is filed.” Id. The term “statutory prerequisite” thus “refers to
statutory provisions that are mandatory and must be accomplished prior to filing
suit.” Id. Concluding that the timely filing of a lawsuit under the Texas Commission
on Human Rights Act (the TCHRA) is a jurisdictional requirement when the
defendant is a governmental entity, the Court held that the plaintiff’s failure to file
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her discriminatory pay claim within the TCHRA’s 180-day limitations period was a
jurisdictional bar to suit. See id. at 514.
Since Chatha, the Texas Supreme Court and several courts of appeals have
found various filing deadlines to be jurisdictional requirements in suits against
governmental entities. In City of Madisonville v. Sims, 620 S.W.3d 375 (Tex. 2020),
for example, the Court held that the 90-day filing deadline under the Texas
Whistleblower Act is a jurisdictional statutory prerequisite to suit. See id. at 379.
And in AC Interests, L.P. v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 543
S.W.3d 703 (Tex. 2018), the Court concluded that a statute requiring the filing of a
petition within 30 days of an adverse ruling by the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality is jurisdictional in nature. See id. at 709; see also San Jacinto
River Auth. v. Paxton, No. 03-18-00547-CV, 2019 WL 3952829, at *3 (Tex. App.—
Austin Aug. 22, 2019, no pet.) (mem. op.) (holding requirement under Public
Information Act that party file suit seeking declaratory relief within 30 days of
receiving attorney general decision is jurisdictional); Matthews v. Colorado Cnty.,
No. 01-16-00092-CV, 2016 WL 4033391, at *6 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.]
July 26, 2016, pet. denied) (mem. op.) (concluding that timely filing under Section
258.004 of Transportation Code is statutory prerequisite to suit and, thus,
jurisdictional); Stoker v. TWC Comm’rs, 402 S.W.3d 926, 929 (Tex. App.—Dallas
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2013, no pet.) (holding 14-day filing deadline to file suit seeking judicial review of
Texas Workforce Commission decision is jurisdictional in nature).
Courts have likewise held compliance with various statutes of limitations to
be jurisdictional requirements in suits against governmental entities. For example,
in a recent case, this Court considered whether compliance with Section 16.003’s
two-year statute of limitations, which was applicable to the plaintiff’s constitutional
claims against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, was a jurisdictional
prerequisite to suit. See Cato v. Tex. Dep’t of Crim. Just., No. 01-21-00099-CV,
2022 WL 3452326, at *2–3 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Aug. 18, 2022, no pet.)
(mem. op.). We held that it was, and because the plaintiff did not file her suit until
one year and four months after the statute of limitations expired, we held that she
failed to comply with a statutory prerequisite to suit, thereby negating jurisdiction.
Id. at *3–4; see also Tucker v. City of Corpus Christi, 622 S.W.3d 404, 407 (Tex.
App.—Corpus Christi–Edinburg 2020, pet. denied) (holding plaintiffs’
constitutional takings claim was governed by Section 16.003(a)’s two-year statute
of limitations and holding that limitations period “is a statutory requirement that
must be met before suit is filed” and thus “complying with § 16.003 is a jurisdictional
requirement for claims brought against a governmental entity”).
Although the Texas Supreme Court has not explicitly held that compliance
with the TTCA’s statute of limitations is jurisdictional, it has held that compliance
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with the TTCA’s pre-suit notice requirements is. See Worsdale v. City of Killeen,
578 S.W.3d 57, 66 (Tex. 2019); see also TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 101.101(a)
(“A governmental unit is entitled to receive notice of a claim against it under this
chapter not later than six months after the day that the incident giving rise to the
claim occurred.”).
Here, it is undisputed that the two-year statute of limitations for personal
injuries in Section 16.003 applies to the TTCA claims brought by Meka against the
City. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 16.003(a) (“[A] person must bring suit
for . . . personal injury . . . not later than two years after the day the cause of action
accrues.”). Thus, in line with Chatha and subsequent decisions holding that
compliance with filing deadlines and statutes of limitations are jurisdictional, we
hold that compliance with Section 16.003’s two-year statute of limitations applicable
to Meka’s TTCA claim is a jurisdictional prerequisite to suit. See Sims, 620 S.W.3d
at 379; AC Interests, 543 S.W.3d at 709; Cato, 2022 WL 3452326, at *2–4; Tucker,
622 S.W.3d at 407. This means that Meka must “bring suit” within two years after
the date of the accident, otherwise her suit is jurisdictionally barred.
But that does not end our inquiry. Here, it is undisputed that the accident
occurred on May 7, 2018. Thus, under Section 16.003, Meka had two years, or until
May 7, 2020, to “bring suit” against the City. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE
§ 16.003(a). Meka filed suit against the City on December 13, 2019, before the two-
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year statute of limitations expired, but did not serve the City until January 11, 2021,
over eight months after the limitations period expired. The City contends that in
order to “bring suit,” as required by Section 16.003(a), Meka must have both filed
her petition and served the City within the two-year limitations period. See Auten v.
DJ Clark, Inc., 209 S.W.3d 695, 698 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2006, no
pet.) (“In order to ‘bring suit’ within the applicable limitations period, a plaintiff
must both file suit within the limitations period and use due diligence to serve the
defendant with process.”). The failure to satisfy both requirements, according to the
City, results in a jurisdictional bar to suit. Thus, the question, then, is what it means
under Section 16.003 to “bring suit”—filing only or filing and service. Stated
another way, the issue is whether service, after timely filing, is a statutory
prerequisite under Section 311.034 such that Meka’s failure to serve the City within
the two-year statute of limitations is a jurisdictional bar to suit.
We determine whether an action is a “statutory prerequisite” within the
meaning of Section 311.034 by using the three-prong test set out in Chatha. See 381
S.W.3d at 511–12. First, “to fall within the ambit of section 311.034, a prerequisite
must be found in the relevant statutory language.” Id. at 512. “Second, the
prerequisite must be a requirement.” Id. Third, “the term ‘pre’ indicates the
requirement must be met before the lawsuit is filed.” Id. “Thus, according to the
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plain language of section 311.034, the term ‘statutory prerequisite’ refers to statutory
provisions that are mandatory and must be accomplished prior to filing suit.” Id.
With this framework in mind, we turn to the language of Section 16.003,
which provides that “a person must bring suit for . . . personal injury . . . not later
than two years after the day the cause of action accrues.” TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.
CODE § 16.003(a). As stated above, the City argues that Meka was required to both
file and serve within the limitations period because, under the common law, “to
‘bring suit’ within the applicable limitations period, a plaintiff must both file suit
within the limitations period and use due diligence to serve the defendant with
process.” See Auten, 209 S.W.3d at 698. But the text of the Section 16.003(a) neither
references nor requires actual service or diligent service. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. &
REM. CODE § 16.003(a). Thus, the service requirement the City advocates for fails
to meet the first two prongs of the Chatha test because it “is not found in the relevant
statutory language” of Section 16.003 and it is not a “requirement” of the statute.
We note that in a recent case, the Austin Court of Appeals considered the same
issue as the one presented here—whether diligent service is a statutory prerequisite
to suit brought under the TTCA. See Tanner v. Tex. St. Univ., 644 S.W.3d 747, 750–
53 (Tex. App.—Austin 2022, pet. filed). There, the plaintiff brought suit under the
TTCA alleging she sustained personal injuries when she was thrown from a golf cart
driven by a University employee. Id. at 748–49. There, as here, it was undisputed
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that the plaintiff filed her suit against the University within the two-year limitations
period but did not serve the University until over three years after the limitations
period expired. Id. at 750–51. The University argued, similar to what the City argues
here, that when a defendant pleads limitations and shows that service was untimely,
a plaintiff must prove diligence in service efforts, and that, without a showing of
diligence, the plaintiff failed to comply with Section 16.003’s statute of limitations.
Id. at 750. Because “diligent service is encompassed within the statute of
limitations,” the University argued that it was a jurisdictional “pre-suit requirement.”
Id. at 752.
The Austin Court of Appeals applied the three-prong test from Chatha and
determined that diligent service was not a jurisdictional “statutory prerequisite”
within the meaning of Section 311.034. Id. In doing so, the court noted that diligent
service did not meet the first two requirements of Chatha because diligent service
was neither referenced in nor required by the statutory language in Section
16.003(a). Id. The court further explained that the diligent service doctrine was a
court-created one, not one created or required by the Legislature:
Furthermore, the Texas Supreme Court has recognized that the
“doctrine” or “rule” of due diligence—which provides that “a plaintiff,
who files a petition within the limitations period but does not complete
service until after the statutory period has expired, is entitled to have
the date of service relate back to the date of filing, if the plaintiff has
exercised diligence in effecting service”—is a creation of the judiciary.
See Stockton v. Offenbach, 336 S.W.3d 610, 615 (Tex. 2011) (noting
that courts have attached “due diligence doctrine” to service rule in
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Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21a (emphasis added)); Rigo Mfg. Co. v.
Thomas, 458 S.W.2d 180, 182 (Tex. 1970) (“This court long ago
established the rule that the mere filing of a suit will not interrupt or toll
the running of a statute of limitation; that to interrupt the statute, the use
of diligence in procuring the issuance and service of citation is
required.” (emphasis added)); Riston v. John Doe # 1, 161 S.W.3d 525,
530 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2004, pet. denied) (noting that
“the due diligence and relation back doctrines” apply when plaintiff
files suit against defendant before limitations expire). Thus, diligent
service is a legal requirement, but it is a court-created one that is not
found in section 16.003(a).
Id.We agree with this reasoning from Tanner. Concluding that the court-created
requirement of diligent service is not a statutory prerequisite to suit is in line with
the Texas Supreme Court’s guidance in Chatha that it is up to the Legislature “to
determine what steps a litigant must take before the state’s immunity is waived.”
Chatha, 381 S.W.3d at 513. It is the Legislature, not the courts, that “establishes the
timeline for filing suit and the mandatory tasks that must be completed before filing.”
Id. at 514.
Turning to the third prong of the Chatha test, we conclude that the requirement
of service, actual or a diligent attempt at, is not one that must be met before the
lawsuit is filed. Id. at 512. Chatha specifies that “a mandatory statutory provision is
a statutory prerequisite under section 311.034, provided it is to be complied with
prior to filing suit.” Id. at 514–15. In construing Section 311.034, the Texas Supreme
Court has expressly distinguished between statutory prerequisites to suit, i.e., those
15
that must be accomplished prior to filing suit, and requirements that can be met only
after suit is filed. For example, in Roccaforte v. Jefferson County, 341 S.W.3d 919,
925 (Tex. 2011), the Court considered whether the post-suit notice requirements in
Local Government Code Section 89.0041 were jurisdictional “prerequisites to suit”
under Section 311.034. See TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE § 89.0041 (requiring person
filing suit against county or county official to deliver written notice “by the 30th
business day after suit is filed” and stating that if person does not give required
notice, “the court in which the suit is pending shall dismiss the suit on a motion for
dismissal made by the court or the county official”). The Court held that the post-
suit notice requirement was not jurisdictional, explaining that “Section 311.034
applies to prerequisites to suit, not notice requirements that can be satisfied only
after suit is filed.” Roccaforte, 341 S.W.3d at 925 (emphasis in original). The Court
also noted that there was nothing in Section 89.0041’s language reflecting the
Legislature’s intent to make the provision jurisdictional because the section required
the trial court to dismiss a case for noncompliance only after the governmental entity
has moved for dismissal, meaning “a county can waive a party’s noncompliance.”
Id. at 925–26. According to the Court, that motion requirement confirmed “that
compliance with the notice requirements [in Section 89.0041] is not jurisdictional.”
Id. at 926.
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Similarly, in AC Interests, the Texas Supreme Court considered the issue of
whether the 30-day service deadline in the Clean Air Act was mandatory or
directory. 543 S.W.3d at 707; see also TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE § 382.032(c)
(“Service of citation on the commission must be accomplished within 30 days after
the date on which the petition is filed.”). In connection with its ultimate resolution
that the service deadline was directory, the Court explained that while the filing
deadline under the Clean Air Act was jurisdictional, the service deadline was not.
AC Interests, 543 S.W.3d at 709, 711 (explaining that service requirement “is not
jurisdictional” and “not a condition precedent to suit” and contrasting it with
jurisdictional requirements which result in dismissal because failure to comply
means that jurisdiction is never obtained).
The Austin Court of Appeals has also held that a similar 30-day service
deadline in the Solid Waste Act is not jurisdictional. See TJFA, L.P. v. Tex. Comm’n
on Env’t Quality, 368 S.W.3d 727, 733 (Tex. App.—Austin 2012, pet. denied).
Relying on the Texas Supreme Court’s decision in Roccaforte, the court explained
that statutory prerequisites to suit are steps or conditions that must be satisfied before
suit can be filed, and that by its very terms, the statutory “30-day deadline for
executing service of process begins after the suit has been filed.” Id. at 731(emphasis in original). The court further supported its conclusion by considering the
way a trial court’s jurisdiction is invoked:
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In addition, a determination that service is not a jurisdictional
requirement is consistent with the manner in which a trial court’s
jurisdiction is invoked. Under governing case law, filing a petition
endows a trial court with subject-matter jurisdiction provided that the
case involves a dispute that the trial court has authority to adjudicate.
In other words, the authority of the court to act in the matter is properly
invoked by filing a petition alleging a claim falling under the
jurisdiction of the court. If the petition does not address a dispute falling
under the court’s jurisdictional umbrella, then the court does not have
subject-matter jurisdiction, and the case is subject to dismissal by a plea
to the jurisdiction. Moreover, unlike subject-matter jurisdiction, a
defendant may generally waive a defect in service if he chooses.
Id. at 732–33 (citations omitted). Accordingly, the court held that “execution of
service is not a statutory prerequisite to suit and that the failure to timely execute
should instead be viewed as similar to a more traditional failure to comply with a
statute of limitations.” Id. at 733. “In other words, the defendant may argue that the
case should be dismissed for failing to timely execute service, but untimely service
is not a jurisdictional defect.” Id.Finally, considering the same statute of limitations here in the context of a
TTCA suit, the Austin Court of Appeals concluded in Tanner that the diligent-
service requirement from the common law was likewise not a “requirement that must
be met before the lawsuit is filed.” 644 S.W.3d at 752. Recognizing that the benefit
of a plaintiff’s diligence in effecting service is to allow the date of service to “relate
back” to the earlier date of the filing, the court held that “[d]iligent service is not ‘a
statutory requirement commanding action before filing suit’ within the meaning of
Section 311.034.” Id. (quoting Chatha, 381 S.W.3d at 515).
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We agree with the reasoning in the above line of cases and apply it here.
Service, by its very nature, occurs after a lawsuit is filed. See TEX. R. CIV. P. 22 (“A
civil suit in the district or county court shall be commenced by a petition filed in the
office of the clerk.”); id. 99(a) (“Upon the filing of the petition, the clerk, when
requested, shall forthwith issue a citation and deliver the citation as directed by the
requesting party.”); Tex. Health & Hum. Servs. Comm’n v. Olguin, 521 S.W.3d 403,
409 (Tex. App.—Austin 2017, no pet.) (concluding that to “bring suit” within 60-
day deadline under Labor Code Section 21.254 does not require service of process
within that period in addition to filing suit because service of process necessarily
occurs after suit is filed and therefore service of process within 60-day deadline in
Section 21.254 is not statutory prerequisite under Section 311.034); TJFA, 368
S.W.3d at 729, 731–33 (interpreting statutory provision in Health and Safety Code
requiring that “[s]ervice of citation must be accomplished not later than the 30th day
after the date on which the petition is filed” and concluding that service was not
statutory prerequisite “given that the service deadline occurs after a suit has been
filed”); cf. Roccaforte, 341 S.W.3d at 925 (holding that post-suit notice requirements
were not jurisdictional because “Section 311.034 applies to prerequisites to suit, not
notice requirements that can be satisfied only after suit is filed” (emphasis in
original)); Jefferson Cnty. v. Farris, 569 S.W.3d 814, 827–28 (Tex. App.—Houston
[1st Dist.] 2018, pet. denied) (citing Roccaforte, 341 S.W.3d at 925) (holding that it
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would “defy logic” to construe presentment to commissioners court requirement in
Local Government Code Section 89.004(c) as jurisdictional prerequisite to suit
“[b]ecause the statute contemplates that, at least in some situations, presentment to
the commissioners court may happen after the filing of suit”). Since it is impossible
for service of citation to take place prior to filing suit, service of citation cannot be
considered a statutory prerequisite to filing suit. Moreover, unlike subject-matter
jurisdiction, service may be waived by the defendant. See TJFA, 368 S.W.3d at 733.
Thus, we hold that service of citation within Section 16.003(a)’s two-year limitations
period is not a jurisdictional requirement to bringing a TTCA suit under Section
311.034 of the Texas Government Code.
For the same reasons that actual service cannot be accomplished before filing
suit, neither can a diligent attempt at service. We therefore likewise conclude that
the diligent service requirement fails the Chatha test and is not a jurisdictional
“statutory prerequisite” within the meaning of Section 311.034. See Tanner, 644
S.W.3d at 752 (holding that because due diligence is not referenced in or required
by Section 16.003(a) and does not concern step that must be accomplished before
filing TTCA suit, and because “the benefit of a plaintiff’s diligence in effecting
service is that the date of service ‘relate[s] back’ to the earlier date of filing,” it fails
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Chatha test and is not jurisdictional “statutory prerequisite” within meaning of
Section 311.034).2
Because service, either actual service or a diligent attempt at service, is not
referenced in or required by Section 16.003(a) and does not concern a step that must
be accomplished before filing a TTCA suit, it fails the Chatha test. See Chatha, 381
2
We recognize that a few courts of appeals to consider whether actual service is a
jurisdictional requirement have held that it is not, provided that the plaintiff
exercised diligence in attempting service on the government defendant. See, e.g.,
Tex. Health & Hum. Servs. Comm’n v. Olguin, 521 S.W.3d 403, 409 (Tex. App.—
Austin 2017, no pet.) (holding that service of process within 60-day deadline in
Section 21.254 is not statutory prerequisite under Section 311.034, but also
concluding that there could “be no contention that [plaintiff’s] suit is jurisdictionally
barred where, as here, he exercised due diligence in effecting service on
[defendant]”); Zamora v. Tarrant Cnty. Hosp. Dist., 510 S.W.3d 584, 591 (Tex.
App.—El Paso 2016, pet. denied) (“[W]e interpret the language in TEX. LAB. CODE
ANN. § 21.254 requiring Zamora to ‘bring a civil action’ within sixty days of
receiving the right-to-sue letter as not requiring actual service of process on the
Hospital within that sixty-day period in order to preserve her right to judicial
review—so long as she exercised due diligence in effecting service on the
Hospital.”). These cases are distinguishable for a few reasons. For one, they are both
TCHRA cases, not TTCA cases. Olguin, 521 S.W.3d at 407; Zamora, 510 S.W.3d
590–91. Second, the procedural posture in Zamora was different—there, the
plaintiff appealed from the trial court’s grant of a plea to the jurisdiction and
alternative motion for summary judgment raising the affirmative defense of
limitations, which was filed by the Hospital as an alternative in the event the filing
deadline was determined not to be jurisdictional. Zamora, 510 S.W.3d at 588.
Conversely, the City here appeals from the trial court’s denial of its summary
judgment motion. Finally, in Olguin, the issue of whether the plaintiff exercised
diligence in service was not disputed. Olguin, 521 S.W.3d at 409–10. To the extent
that these cases hold that actual service within the limitations period is not a
jurisdictional requirement or statutory prerequisite to suit, but the exercise of
diligence in service is, we find the reasoning in Tanner, where the court considered
the same statute of limitations applicable to TTCA claims like those here, to be more
persuasive and in line with the Texas Supreme Court’s test in Chatha.
21
S.W.3d at 511–12. Therefore, we hold that neither actual service nor a diligent
attempt at service is a statutory prerequisite to suit within the meaning of Section
311.034. Because there is no dispute that Meka filed her TTCA suit against the City
within Section 16.003(a)’s two-year limitations period, we hold that she complied
with the statutory prerequisites to suit and the TTCA’s waiver of immunity remains
intact. Thus, the trial court did not err in denying the City’s motion for summary
judgment.
We clarify that our holding today does not mean that governmental entities
may not challenge untimely service. Rather, we conclude that the failure to timely
execute service is not a jurisdictional defect, but instead should be viewed more like
a traditional failure to comply with a statute of limitations that is raised as an
affirmative defense.3 See TJFA, 368 S.W.3d at 733.
We overrule the City’s first issue.4
3
Although the issue of Meka’s diligence in service was raised in the City’s motion
for summary judgment, because we hold that service (actual or diligent) is not a
jurisdictional prerequisite to suit, and thus does not implicate the City’s sovereign
immunity, it is outside the scope of our review in this interlocutory appeal from the
trial court’s denial of the City’s motion for summary judgment.
4
Because resolution of the City’s first issue is dispositive, we do not reach the
remaining issue raised by the parties related to whether the Texas Supreme Court’s
emergency orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic tolled or extended
the two-year limitations period until June 2021, such that Meka both filed and
served the City within the limitations period as purportedly extended by these
emergency orders. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.1 (requiring courts of appeals to issue
opinions that are as brief as practicable but that address every issue raised and
necessary to final disposition of appeal).
22
Conclusion
We affirm the trial court’s order denying the City’s motion for summary
judgment.
Amparo Guerra
Justice
Panel consists of Justices Landau, Countiss, and Guerra.
23