Texas Department of Transportation v. Jones

Today we reaffirm that governmental immunity from suit defeats a trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction and thus is properly asserted in a plea to the jurisdiction. Without considering the merits of the Texas Department of Transportation’s plea to the jurisdiction, the court of appeals in this case held otherwise and affirmed the trial court’s denial of the Department’s plea. Texas Dept. of Trans. v. Stephen Jones, 983 S.W.2d 90 (Tex.App.Corpus Christi, 1998). We therefore reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and remand this cause to that court for proceedings consistent with this…