AUSTIN — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal filed by Robb Elementary School students and teachers seeking to revive a lawsuit alleging that the Texas Department of Public Safety and Uvalde County contributed to the failed law enforcement response to the 2022 mass shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers.
The court issued the order without comment, leaving in place a February decision by the San Antonio-based 4th Court of Appeals that dismissed the lawsuit.
Five teachers and 20 students who were at the school but not inside the two classrooms where the shooting occurred filed the negligence lawsuit against DPS and Uvalde County.
According to the appeals court, most of the plaintiffs sheltered in nearby classrooms, where they heard gunfire and, in some cases, saw the gunman move across campus. The court also noted that the shooter fired into the windows of at least one classroom occupied by the plaintiffs. Several plaintiffs lost friends or relatives in the attack, while others suffered injuries during the evacuation.
The lawsuit alleged that DPS and Uvalde County failed to protect students and teachers during the shooting.
The appeals court acknowledged that allegation, stating it “quite frankly cannot disagree with” the claim. However, the court ruled that the plaintiffs based their case on the Texas Tort Claims Act, which did not apply to their claims.
The plaintiffs argued that law enforcement officers failed to use communication equipment and protective gear while waiting more than an hour before confronting the gunman.
The lawsuit also alleged that emergency responders used defective communication equipment that delayed rescue efforts because the radios functioned only within a 10-foot range of the building. The plaintiffs argued they suffered injuries not only from the gunman’s actions but also from the delayed rescue.
The appeals court ruled that the Texas Tort Claims Act requires plaintiffs to show that the use of government property directly caused their injuries.
The court found that the lawsuit did not establish that properly functioning radios would have reduced or eliminated the delay in the response.
The court also ruled that many of the claims centered on officers’ failure to use body armor, ballistic shields, firearms and other protective equipment. It said established law provides that the non-use of government property does not waive governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act.
“As judges, we are bound by the maxim that ‘the waiver of governmental immunity is a matter addressed to the Legislature, not the courts,'” the appeals court wrote in its opinion.
