Congratulations to Tammy Holt and trial counsel, Rey Perez, who won an appeal in the San Antonio Court of Appeals this week. The interlocutory appeal was filed by a private entity who contracted with a governmental entity to manage a nursing home. Claiming derivative sovereign immunity, the private entity tried to claim that it could not be sued because, by contracting with the government, it was entitled to the same immunity from suit the government enjoys. The trial court declined to dismiss the case. The private entity appealed and, without reaching the substance of the derivative sovereign immunity claim, the court of appeals dismissed the appeal holding that contracting with a government entity did not transform the contractor into a “governmental entity” entitled to appeal under the interlocutory appeal statute. You can read Tammy’s briefing here and the court’s opinion here.
