City of Dallas v. Diane Sanchez, Individually and as Representative of the Estate of Matthew Sanchez, and Arnold Sanchez, 494 S.W.3d 722

In Nov. 2012 two 9-1-1 calls about separate drug overdoses were received at the same Dallas apartment complex within about ten minutes.
The second call, placed for Matthew Sanchez at 2:55 a.m., included his apartment number but disconnected before being reestablished.
Responders went to the complex to assist the first caller, concluded the two calls were redundant, never went to Sanchez’s unit, and left; Sanchez died ~6 hours later.
Sanchez’s parents sued Dallas for wrongful death, alleging either dispatcher misconduct (hanging up) or a 9-1-1 system malfunction that caused the premature disconnection and prevented aid.
The City moved to dismiss under Tex. R. Civ. P. 91a, arguing the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA) immunity waiver does not apply because the alleged harms arise from communication/dispatch decisions and the overdose — not a condition or use of tangible property; alternatively, the 9-1-1 statutory exception applied.
The trial court dismissed most claims but allowed the phone-system-defect claim to proceed; the court of appeals reversed as to that claim. The Texas Supreme Court granted review.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether TTCA waives immunity under §101.021(2) for alleged 9‑1‑1 phone system defect that disconnected Sanchez’s call	The phone system malfunction (or dispatcher hanging up) was a condition/use of tangible personal property that proximately caused Sanchez’s death by preventing timely aid	The allegations involve communication/dispatch decisions and an underlying drug overdose, not a condition/use of tangible property; even if a system defect occurred, it did not proximately cause death	No waiver: the alleged phone defect was too attenuated and did not actually cause Sanchez’s death; dismissal under Rule 91a required
Whether plaintiffs pleaded a statutory-violation exception to the 9‑1‑1 immunity exclusion (§101.062)	Plaintiffs alleged violations of federal, state, or local statutes/regulations by dispatcher or system, fitting the §101.062 exception	The pleadings did not sufficiently establish that a statutory violation was the proximate cause or that the exception applied	Court rejected waiver on proximate-cause grounds; did not find sufficient nexus to invoke the statutory exception

Dallas County v. Posey, 290 S.W.3d 869 (Tex. 2009) (property must actually have caused injury to waive immunity)
Texas Dep’t of Criminal Justice v. Miller, 51 S.W.3d 583 (Tex. 2001) (delay or interference that merely hinders treatment is not proximate cause)
Bossley v. Dallas County Mental Health & Mental Retardation, 968 S.W.2d 339 (Tex. 1998) (use or condition of property must be a substantial factor, not merely make injury possible)
Ryder Integrated Logistics, Inc. v. Fayette County, 453 S.W.3d 922 (Tex. 2015) (proximate-cause analysis requires cause in fact and foreseeability)
Tex. Dep’t of Parks & Wildlife v. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d 217 (Tex. 2004) (pleadings liberally construed for jurisdictional questions)