City of San Antonio v. Tenorio ex rel. Tenorio

Dogmatic adherence to language divorced from context can distort the law. This axiom has long guided our interpretation of statutes,1 and it applies with equal force when we construe precedent. Application of precedent requires us to consider *781not only the language an opinion employs, but also the animating logic.2 In this case, which involves the Texas Tort Claims Act's actual-notice exception, the Court's cramped construction of Cathey v. Booth3 and its progeny thwarts, rather than effectuates, legislative intent. By construing the actual-notice exception to require self-acknowledgment of…