Texas Unemployment Compensation Commission v. Tyus
Texas Unemployment Compensation Commission v. Tyus
Opinion of the Court
Louis R. Tyus, a citizen of Freestone County, brought this suit in the 77th District Court of said county, to establish claim against the Unemployment Compen
Point 2 in appellant’s brief assails the judgment of the trial court for failing to sustain its plea to the jurisdiction.
Section (i) of Art. 5221b-4 of Title 83 of Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes provides in part as follows:
“(i) Court Review: Within ten (10) days after the decision of the Commission has become final, any party aggrieved thereby may secure judicial review thereof by commencing an action in any court of competent jurisdiction in the county of claimant’s residence against the Commission for tha review of its decision, in which action any other party to the proceeding before the Commission shall be made a defendant. Such trial shall be de novo. In such action, a petition which need not be verified, but which shall state the grounds upon which a review is sought, * *
Since the above statute provides that judicial review of claims arising under the compensation statute shall be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction in the county of the claimant’s residence against the Commission, we think this question of the jurisdiction of the trial court is controlled by the rule announced by our Supreme Court in Booth v. Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n, 132 Tex. 237, 123 S.W.2d 322, point 9, page 327 (and cases therein collated), wherein the court said:
“Inasmuch as the Workmen’s Compensation Law authorizes the bringing of suit to set aside an award of the board without designating the court in which the suit is-to be brought, resort must be had to the Constitution and the statutes which define-the jurisdiction of courts. According to-provisions of the Constitution and the Revised Civil Statutes, the original jurisdiction of trial courts, aside from certain suits, specially designated * * *, is determined by the amount or value of the matter' in controversy. * * * The question whether a particular suit is as to the amount in controversy within the jurisdiction of the court in which it is filed is determined by the averments in the petition in so far as they state facts in relation to the thing in. controversy; and this is true, regardless of the truth of the allegations, unless it is-made to appear by pleading and proof that the allegations as to jurisdiction were-fraudulently made.”
Applying the above 'rule to the plaintiff’s petition on whkh he sought judicial: review in the district court and on which he went to trial, we find that the district court was without jurisdiction to adjudicate-his claim, because (1) in said petition he alleged, among other things, substantially the following: From October 1, 1944 to-September 30, 1945, he was employed by North American Aviation Company operating in Dallas and W. E. Grace Company operating in Dallas County, Texas, and subsequent to September 30, 1945, he was employed by a manufacturing company as a machinist at a wage of $1.22 per hour until February 13, 1946, at which time he was. laid off because of a reduction in force;, that on March 4, 1946, he filed a claim with, the Commission for benefits under this law- and that the Commission approved the-claim for the benefit year commencing. March 4, 1946 and ending March 3, 1947; that plaintiff was paid the sum of $36.00‘ every two weeks for the period beginning" March 4, 1946 and ending July 1, 1946; that on July 5, 1946 he received a notice from, the Commission to the effect that he had not been eligible to receive benefit payments.
It follows that the judgment of the trial court must-be reversed, set aside and vacated and the cause dismissed from the docket, and it is accordingly so ordered.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.