the City of Pharr, Texas v. Dora Herrera, Individually and as Representative of the Estate of Reynaldo Herrera, Eric Herrera, Efren Herrera, Michael Herrera, Jessica Herrera Rodriguez, Celia Herrera, Vanessa Herrera, Veronica Herrera Rodriguez Herrera and Rey Herrera, 13-15-00133-CV

Background

Collision resulted when a suspect driver (Quintero) fled from police and later struck the decedent’s vehicle; Pharr officer Gonzalez pursued but disengaged about three miles before the fatal collision.
Plaintiffs sued the City of Pharr under the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA), invoking the motor-vehicle exception (TTCA §101.021) and alleging the City’s vehicle use caused the death.
The City filed a plea to the jurisdiction arguing sovereign immunity was not waived because the injuries did not "arise from" the City’s operation of a motor vehicle and, alternatively, that officer Gonzalez is entitled to official immunity for good-faith law-enforcement decisions in a pursuit.
The trial court denied the plea to the jurisdiction; this brief is the City’s reply asking the appellate court to reverse and render dismissal.
Key factual points the City emphasizes: Gonzalez did not contact either vehicle, repeatedly slowed at intersections, requested assistance/spike strips, disengaged the pursuit, and multiple agencies (including DPS) were involved and continued the chase.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether TTCA motor-vehicle exception waives immunity	Herrera: waiver applies because conduct occurred in context of a police pursuit and the City’s vehicle use is implicated in the fatality	City: waiver not triggered because the injury was caused by the fleeing driver’s independent acts; the vehicle was only the setting and the causal nexus is too attenuated	Trial court denied plea; City urges reversal (brief argues waiver not shown)
Whether proximate causation requires actual causal nexus to vehicle use	Herrera: relies on Travis plurality to treat vehicle-involved contexts as waiving immunity	City: cites Ryder, Hillis, Bossley, and others to require the vehicle’s use actually cause the injury, not merely furnish a condition	City contends evidence shows no causal nexus; appellate ruling urged to find no waiver
Whether emergency/pursuit context defeats liability (TTCA §101.055(2))	Herrera: expert alleges Gonzalez acted with conscious indifference/reckless disregard	City: emergency decisionmaking is protected; officer slowed, sought assistance, and disengaged—no conscious indifference	City argues immunity preserved; asks court to dismiss
Whether officer Gonzalez is entitled to official immunity	Herrera: disputes good-faith defense	City: under Chambers test, a reasonably prudent officer could have believed continuation was justified; multiple agencies corroborate reasonableness	City argues Gonzalez acted objectively reasonably and thus official immunity applies; requests dismissal of municipal liability

Key Cases Cited

Travis v. City of Mesquite, 830 S.W.2d 94 (Tex. 1992) (plurality on scope of motor-vehicle exception in police-chase context)
Ryder v. Fayette County, 453 S.W.3d 922 (Tex. 2015) (requires vehicle’s use to have actually caused the injury for TTCA waiver)
Mount Pleasant Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Estate of Lindburg, 766 S.W.2d 208 (Tex. 1989) (vehicle as mere setting does not trigger waiver)
LeLeaux v. Hamshire-Fannett Indep. Sch. Dist., 835 S.W.2d 49 (Tex. 1992) (limiting waiver when vehicle is only the setting for wrongdoing)
Dallas County Mental Health & Mental Retardation v. Bossley, 968 S.W.2d 339 (Tex. 1998) (nexus requirement and narrow waiver interpretation)
City of Lancaster v. Chambers, 883 S.W.2d 650 (Tex. 1994) (good-faith balancing test for police pursuits)
City of Amarillo v. Martin, 971 S.W.2d 426 (Tex. 1998) (policy against second-guessing emergency personnel; privileges for emergency operators)
University of Houston v. Clark, 38 S.W.3d 578 (Tex. 2000) (municipal liability follows officer immunity principles)
DeWitt v. Harris County, 904 S.W.2d 650 (Tex. 1995) (official immunity doctrine)
City of Dallas v. Hillis, 308 S.W.3d 526 (Tex. App.—Dallas) (attenuation of causation in police-chase contexts)