Jackson v. Texas Southern University
Jackson v. Texas Southern University
Opinion of the Court
OPINION AND ORDER
Pending before the Court in the above referenced cause is Defendants Texas Southern University (“TSU”), Sunny E. Ohia, Barbara E. Hayes, Inyang N. Ose-mene, and Cyril V. Abobo’s renewed motion to dismiss Plaintiff Lewis E. Jackson’s
In an Opinion and Order dated February 3, 2014 (# 52),
Plaintiff Jackson’s First Supplemental Complaint (# 53)
On or about February 26, 2013 Dr. Jackson and Dr. Abobo were proctoring examinations in different rooms for different groups of students when Dr. Abobo, acting “solely on his own purposes and motivation, without provocation, and without any relation to his general or specific duties as a University faculty member ... physically assaulted Dr. Jackson ....”# 53 at p. 2, ¶¶ 4.5H.52. The supplemental complaint, # 53 at pp. 4-5, further states,
4.60 Dr. Abobo’s conduct toward Dr. Jackson was in no way related to his duties as a faculty member of the University and did not directly or indirectly further the business and educational mission of the University.
4.61 Dr. Abobo’s conduct toward Dr. Jackson was motivated solely by personal and professional dislike and animosity of Dr. Jackson....
4.63 Nothing in the circumstances would permit a conclusion that Dr. Abobo acted in behalf of furtherance of the business of the University to the extent that Dr. Jackson could present an assault claim against the University under the doctrine of respondeat superior.
4.64 The University neither acquiesced, nor adopted, the conduct of Dr. Abobo, but instead caused an investigation of the incident to be conducted by law enforcement officers ' of the University and/or the municipality.
Standard of Review
The Court incorporates the relevant portion of the Standard of Review from its earlier Opinion and Order (997 F.Supp.2d at 621-22, 2014 WL 496653 at *2-3). It particularly emphasizes here that when a district court reviews a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), it must construe the complaint in favor of the plaintiff and take all well-pleaded facts as true. Randall D. Wolcott, MD, PA v. Sebelius, 635 F.3d 757, 763 (5th Cir. 2011), citing Gonzalez v. Kay, 577 F.3d 600, 603 (5th Cir. 2009). The plaintiffs legal conclusions are not entitled to the same assumption. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (“The tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions.”), citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); Hinojosa v. U.S. Bureau of Prisons, 506 Fed.Appx. 280, 283 (5th Cir. 2013).
Defendants’ Renewed Motion to Dismiss the Assault Claim (# 54)
Defendants urge that because it is clear that the alleged assault occurred when Dr. Abobo and Dr. Jackson were proctoring an examination as part of their official duties, a task lawfully assigned to them by TSU, the assault was within the general scope of their employment and § 101.106(f) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code fore
Plaintiff Jackson’s “Reply” (# 55)
Plaintiff insists that TSU is not liable for the tort of assault because assault is not within the scope of an employee’s authority unless the employee is employed in a job requiring use of force, such as law enforcement or guarding property.
Plaintiff claims that the circumstances of the assault were pleaded in detail and indicate that no explicit or implicit obligation was imposed on Dr. Abobo to as
Court’s Decision
The key distinction here, which Plaintiff does not acknowledge in the argument he makes and the cases he cites, is that Plaintiff is suing an employee of a governmental unit (a professor of a state university). Under Texas law, state universities, including Texas Southern University, “ ‘are agencies of the State and enjoy sovereign immunity.’ ” Taylor v. Texas Southern University, Civ. A. No. 4:12-CV-01975, 2013 WL 3157529, at *3-4 (S.D.Tex. June 20, 2013) (concluding that “for Eleventh Amendment purposes, a suit against a state agency or university is a suit against the state”) (and cases cited therein). Therefore the Texas Tort Claims Act, Texas Civil Practices & Remedies Code Ann. §§ 101.001-.109 (West 2011 & Supp. 2013), is relevant.
In the case cited by Defendants and disputed by Plaintiff, Anderson v. Bessman, the court observed that the Texas Tort Claims Act defines “scope of employment” as “the performance for a governmental unit of the duties of an employee’s office or employment and includes being in and about the performance of a task lawfully assigned to an employee by a competent authority.” 365 S.W.3d at 125. Indicating the far more expansive nature of the term, “scope of employment,” the court further opined,
The faculty members contend that the administrators acted outside the scope of their employment because they brought personal motives to bear in deciding who should be fired. So long as it falls within the duties assigned, an employee’s conduct is “within the scope of employment,” even if done in part to serve the purposes of the employee or a third person. Dictaphone Corp. v. Torrealba, 520 S.W.2d 869, 872 (Tex.Civ.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1975, writ ref'd n.r.e.) (employee’s performance of duties to serve himself or a’third person did not take him outside the scope of employment); Best Steel Bldgs., Inc. v. Hardin, 553 S.W.2d 122, 128 (Tex.Civ.App.-Tyler 1977, writ ref'd n.r.e.) (“The fact that the preponderate motive of the servant is to benefit himself or a third person does not prevent the act from being within the scope of employment.”). The administrators’ actions here fall within the scope of their employment because they carried out their supervisors’ directives for the benefit of UTMB — even if personal motives in part persuaded them in the performance of their duty.
Id. at 125-26. The Court finds from the facts alleged here that Dr. Abobo was acting in the scope of his employment in proctoring an exam as lawfully assigned by TSU, substantially within the authorized time and space limits of the university’s scheduling, even if he was motivated in part by personal animosity toward Dr. Jackson.
Under the election of remedies provision of the Tort Claims Act, section 101.106, the claims against an individual defendant in both his individual capacity
Therefore the Court
ORDERS that Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiffs common-law assault claim against Defendant Abobo (instrument # 54) is GRANTED with prejudice. Final Judgment shall issue by separate order. . ' '
. Lewis E. Jackson has replaced his deceased wife, Doris M. Jackson, as.Plaintiff in this suit.
. Also available at Jackson v. Texas Southern Univ., 997 F.Supp.2d 613, 2014 WL 496653 (S.D.Tex. Feb. 03, 2014).
. The second amended complaint originally also asserted claims for age discrimination under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act ("TCHRA”), Texas Labor Code § 21.051, denial of promised medical leave benefits under Texas statutory and common law, breach of contract and promissory estop-pel, and retaliation in violation of her rights to free expression under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
.Section 101.106 ("Election of Remedies”) provides in relevant part, ...
(b) The filing of a suit against any employee of a governmental unit constitutes an irrevocable election by the plaintiff and immediately and forever bars any suit or recovery by the plaintiff against the governmental unit regarding the same subject matter unless the governmental unit consents ....
(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.
(f) If a suit is filed against an employee of a governmental unit based on conduct within the general scope of that, employee’s employment and if it could have been brought under this chapter against the governmen*886 tal unit, the suit is considered to be against the employee in the employee’s official capacity only. On the employee’s motion, the suit against the employee shall be dismissed unless the plaintiff files amended pleadings dismissing the employee and naming the governmental unit as defendant on or before the 30th day after the date the motion is filed.
. Plaintiff argues that this case is inapposite because it not only stated that an action is within the course and scope of an employee’s duties when it "falls within the duties assigned,” but it relied on a case that holds that conduct falls within the scope of employment only "when the employee carries out the express instructions of his employer.” Arbelaez v. Just Brakes Corp., 149 S.W.3d 717, 723 n. 7 (Tex.App.-Austin 2004, no pet.).
This Court observes that what footnote 7 in Arbelaez actually states is, "We have been unable to find a single case in Texas jurisprudence that supports the proposition that an employee is not within the course and scope of employment when the employee carries out the express instructions of his employer in an activity that benefitted, even indirectly, the employer’s business [emphasis in original].” Id. Moreover, as will be discussed, for other reasons Plaintiff’s definition is far too narrow generally and for the specific circumstances here.
. For example, see ANA, Inc. v. Lowry, 31 S.W.3d 765, 769 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, no writ).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Doris M. JACKSON, Pharm. D. v. TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, etc.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published