Plumbing 
Teachers and parents of children at Robb Elementary are seeking to overturn an April 5 ruling that states they lack jurisdiction to sue Uvalde County, Texas DPS, the Texas Rangers and Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District.
The 38th Judicial District Court will hear a motion to reconsider the ruling at 8 a.m. on May 29 in Uvalde’s district courtroom.
Visiting Judge Melvin Rex Emerson dismissed the $1 million suit filed in the 38th Judicial District against the school district, county, state police department and its rangers, and the city following an April 4 hearing during which defendants delivered in-person pleas.
Counsel for the city of Uvalde did not attend.
“ … the Court GRANTS Defendants’ Plea because Plaintiffs have not established a waiver of immunity,” according to one of Emerson’s April 5 orders. “The entirety of this case is dismissed with prejudice.”
With prejudice means plaintiffs can’t later try to bring the lawsuit again.
The lawsuit, filed by adults in their individual capacities and on behalf of several minors, argues the defending groups were negligent leading up to and during their respective responses to the May 24, 2022, shooting.
Counsel for each defending party in attendance argued that plaintiffs lacked jurisdiction to successfully sue them given no claims against them appealed each entity’s sovereign immunity. Texas local election authorities are protected from civil suit under state law with few exceptions.
Emerson ruled in favor of the groups being sued, dismissing the case with prejudice. He also approved motions filed by DPS and UCISD to stay case discovery, which the state requested amid ongoing investigations pertaining to Robb.
Mark Di Carlo, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he has little more than anecdotal evidence because the state, county and school had not complied with specific open records requests. He alleged the state was seeking to stonewall the plaintiffs until the statute of limitations expires. The state refuted those claims.
Adult plaintiffs in the case include Erica Barrera, Michael Brown, Jennifer Davis, Angeli-Rose Gomez, Luz Hernandez, Tiffany Luna, Tamica Martinez, Yolanda Morales, Maryanne Reyes, Bianca Rivera, Brenda Sonora, Christian Sonora, David Treviño, Krystal Upton, Esmeralda Velasquez, Sofia Zapata, Carla Rose King, Tiffany Massey and Nicole Ogburn.
Emerson, of Kerrville, is retired from the the 198th Judicial District and now serves as a visiting judge for state courts.
On March 27, Chief Judge Alia Moses in Del Rio dismissed several parties who responded to Robb Elementary from a $1 million federal suit with prejudice after plaintiffs requested to do so temporarily. Several defendants in that case had separately filed to have claims dismissed against them. Some plaintiffs in this federal case were also involved in the district case.
Sofi Zeman (szeman@ulnnow.com, 830-278-3335) is a Report for America corps member who writes about education and crime for the Leader-News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep Sofi writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting tinyurl.com/995h5cka
