Texas Department of Criminal Justice v. Miller

joined by Justice HECHT, Justice OWEN, Justice BAKER, Justice HANKINSON, Justice O’NEILL, and Justice JEFFERSON.

This is an interlocutory appeal of a plea to the jurisdiction by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). An inmate’s wife sought damages following her husband’s death from meningitis while incarcerated in a TDCJ facility. We must decide whether the plaintiff has established waiver of sovereign immunity from suit under the Texas Tort Claims Act by demonstrating that the injury was caused by use of tangible personal property. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code § 101.021(2). Because…