Strasburger Governmental News

Supreme Court says Churches, Synagogues, and Mosques have Freedom to Choose Whether to Retain a Narcoleptic Teacher

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:00:00 CST

by Katie Anderson and Kim Hodgman
The United States Supreme Court has ruled on the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Church case we highlighted in our October 31, 2011 newsletter, and no one is surprised by the outcome. As many had predicted, the Court gave its blessing to the “ministerial exception” that allows religious organizations to take employment actions without fear of the hiring and firing of their workforce...

Decision Makers Beware: Recent Fifth Circuit Opinion Clarifies that Even Informal Employment Actions Taken Against Public Employees May Result in Individual Civil Rights Liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:00 CST

by Zach Thomas
On September 30, 2011, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided an issue of first impression in the case of Juarez v. Aguilar, concluding that liability exists when a school board makes an informal decision about employment. Decision makers, such as school district board members, city councils, housing authority board of commissioners, and others with authority to make employment decisions, should be aware of this recent ruling....

Texas Constitution Amended to Make Long-Term Interlocal Contracts Easier for Cities and Counties

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:00:00 CST

by Sara Kate Jancaitis
On November 8, 2011, Texas voted 57.7% in favor of Proposition Number 5 (Senate Joint Resolution 26), effectively amending the Texas Constitution to authorize our Legislature to allow cities and counties to enter into interlocal contracts without the imposition of a tax or the provision of a sinking fund...

Use it or Lose it - Mandatory Requirements for Governmental Entities to Maintain the Power of Eminent Domain (under Senate Bill 18 of the 82nd Legislature Regular Session)

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:00:00 CST

by Carlos Garcia
For the past decade, landowners and the Texas Legislature have struggled to find any common ground in the realm of eminent domain. Both sides agreed that change was needed but had been unable to agree on any meaningful compromise. Senate Bill 18 is the final result of six years of failed attempts by the Texas Legislature to pass an eminent domain reform bill....

Schools need to Check Out their Check-Out Procedures to Avoid Liability

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:00:00 CST

by Katie Anderson and Rachel Dedman
On August 5, 2011, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held for the first time that compulsory-attendance, elementary schools may have a constitutional duty to protect the personal safety of young students. The facts were horrific. In 2007, Tommy Keyes, a pedophile who was not related to Jane Doe, checked Jane, a nine-year-old fourth grader, out from Covington County Elementary School on at least six different occasions. Each time he brutally raped, sodomized, and molested her. He then returned her to school, where school employees checked her back in...

Are Texas School Districts Liable When Students Fail to Make the Team or Squad?

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:00:00 CST

by Rachel Dedman
Texas schools should be cheering for a recent decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that defers to the judgment and discretion of a district in selecting cheerleaders. We all know that high school cheerleading, like high school football, is a “big deal” for many in Texas. For some, it is even worth the expenditure of time and energy to file a lawsuit in federal court, as Samantha Sanches (“Sanches”) and her mother did when Sanches failed to make the cheerleading squad at her high school. The lawsuit alleged that the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District (the “District”) did not properly respond to harassment and other actions by a fellow member of the cheerleading squad who Sanches claimed prevented her from being chosen for the high school squad her senior year. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, had quite a different take on the matter....

Recent Texas Supreme Court Opinion Implies that Open-Enrollment Charter Schools May Be Immune from Suit for Many Tort and Contract Actions

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:00:00 CST

by Zach Thomas and Katie Anderson
Administrators for the more than 200 open-enrollment charter schools in the State of Texas¹ should be aware of the Texas Supreme Court’s recent opinion in LTTS Charter School, Inc. v. C2 Construction, Inc.,² delivered on June 17, 2011. The decision may provide strong support that such schools, even if operated by a non-public entity, are immune from suit for many tort and contract claims as “governmental units.”...

To Cheer or Not to Cheer—That is NOT the Question for Texas Public School Cheerleaders: Supreme Court not to review Fifth Circuit’s Decision in Doe v. Silsbee Independent School District

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:00:00 CST

by Rachel Dedman and Katie Anderson
Usually, United States courts grant public school students a reasonably large degree of freedom of speech when at school. In fact, the courts have long held that public school students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 506 (1969). However, the courts have also stated that, when a student’s speech “substantially interfere[s] with the work of the school,” the student’s speech may not be protected under the First Amendment...

Texas Political Subdivisions No Longer Haunted by the Specter of Retaliation Claims, but Like Any Ghoul May Rise Again

Tue, 10 May 2011 09:00:00 CST

by Rachel Dedman and Jana H. Woelfel
Until last Friday, April 29, 2011, Texas political subdivisions were vulnerable to retaliation claims by terminated employees who had filed workers’ compensation claims. However, last Friday, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas political subdivisions now possess immunity from claims of retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim by employees, which no doubt will cause political subdivisions across the State to breathe a huge sigh of relief....

Public Employees’ “Private” Texts : City of Ontario v. Quon

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:00:00 CST

by Rachel Dedman
The Supreme Court has spoken on the question of whether personal text messages that public employees send on employer-provided technological devices are protected by a right of privacy - they’re not. At least, the Court so held in this case....

Bullying in School

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:00:00 CST

by Katie Anderson
In Patterson v. Hudson Area Schools, a jury recently awarded $800,000 against a school district for failing to prevent student-on-student sexual harassment in violation of Title IX. The student reported harassment that occurred over several years, with the harassment elevating from name calling to locker vandalism to sexual assault. While the district court originally awarded summary judgment to the school district because of its affirmative actions to limit and prevent future attacks (which were met with some success), the appellate court reversed the decision to allow a jury to decide whether the school knew that its methods of response to harassment were ineffective and inadequate.......

It’s Constitutional, So Far, for Public School Teachers to Lead Students in Recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:00:00 CST

by Rachel Dedman
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently considered an appeal brought by several individual plaintiffs against the Rio Linda School District (the “district”), in which the plaintiffs alleged that teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America (the “Pledge”) in public schools is unconstitutional. The plaintiff parents contended that leading schoolchildren in a recitation of the Pledge constitutes an establishment of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution (which prohibits the government from establishing a state religion) due to the inclusion of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge......

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK, MASONRY OR BRICK?

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:00:00 GMT

by Julie Y. Fort
What does it matter to a city whether a school district chooses to build with rock, masonry or brick? According to the Texas Attorney General, home rule cities have a legitimate interest in the issue. On February 27, 2009, the Texas Attorney General issued Opinion No. GA-0697, which stated that a home rule city may enforce land development regulations upon a school district for the purposes of aesthetics and the maintenance of property values. The Opinion affects not only school districts, but also businesses and residents whose property is located near school district properties.....

Governmental Pension and Other Retirement Plans Face January 31, 2009 Deadline to Request IRS Determination Letters

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Governmental Pension and Other Retirement Plans Face January 31, 2009 Deadline to Request IRS Determination Letters by Gus Fields and Gary Lawson and Luke D. Bailey
Because of the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code's (“IRC's” or “Code's”) provisions affecting pension and other retirement plans, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has for many years had a program for issuing individual advance written approvals, called “determination letters,” to employers regarding the federal income tax qualification of their retirement plans under IRC § 401(a) and related provisions of the Code. ....

New Governmental Accounting Rules for Retiree Medical and Other Welfare Benefits - Part II

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:00:00 GMT

New Governmental Accounting Rules for Retiree Medical and Other Welfare Benefits - Part II by Luke D. Bailey
In Part I of our series on recently enacted HB 2365 and the impact of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (“GASB”) Statement Nos. 43 and 45 in Texas, we explained the requirements and effective dates of the GASB's new accounting rules for “other postemployment benefits,” or “OPEB's.” In this Part 2 we explain how prefunding may be used to reduce OPEB liability under GASB Statement No. 45, the vehicles that exist for prefunding, other ways of reducing OPEB liabilities, and the likely impact of GASB 45 on bond ratings.....

New Governmental Accounting Rules for Retiree Medical and Other Welfare Benefits - Part I

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:00:00 GMT

New Governmental Accounting Rules for Retiree Medical and Other Welfare Benefits - Part I by Luke D. Bailey
At the end of its most recent session, the Texas Legislature enacted House Bill (HB) 2365, which was signed by Governor Perry and became law on June 15, 2007. The purpose of HB 2365 is to provide relief, for those local governments and agencies that want it, from the impending accounting requirements of Governmental Accounting Standard Board (“GASB”) Statement Nos. 43 and 45. In this and a following Governmental Newsletter, we explain the requirements of GASB Statement Nos. 43 and 45. A third newsletter will explain the implications of HB 2365 for Texas municipalities and other Texas governmental entities....

Post-Burlington Policies and Procedures - Are You Set Up to Defend Retaliation Claims?

Thu, 24 May 2007 09:00:00 GMT

Post-Burlington Policies and Procedures - Are You Set Up to Defend Retaliation Claims? by Tiffany Hildreth
It has been nearly a year since the issuance of <em>Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White</em>, a United States Supreme Court decision which significantly expanded the scope of retaliation-based wrongful termination claims. During this time, prudent employers have been reassessing their employee handbook policies and internal employment procedures to set up effective lines of communication designed to prevent any unintended “retaliation” events and thwart potential retaliation claims....

Could "Staying Connected" Mean Staying On The Clock?

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:00:00 GMT

Could "Staying Connected" Mean Staying On The Clock? by Jerae Carlson
Personal digital assistants (“PDAs”) enable us, like it or not, to stay connected with our clients, customers, colleagues, and employees from most any place and at most any time of the day. They can also provide us with quick access to valuable information. For these reasons, PDAs have become commonplace in workplaces across many industries. In fact, many employers now equip employees with PDAs, just as they do other tools of the trade. Other employers simply permit employees to use personal PDAs to perform work-related activities. These realities raise the issue of whether the employer may be required to compensate employees for work performed via PDAs when the employee would otherwise be considered “off the clock”....

Exacting a Payoff from Intellectual Assets

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:00:00 GMT

Exacting a Payoff from Intellectual Assets by Cathy Schnaubelt
All businesses rely on intellectual assets, regardless of the size or industry. Innovation exists not just in legal patents and trademarks, but also in a company's personnel and their collective “know how.” Experience shows that individuals, companies and industries that fully exploit their intellectual asset portfolios create greater returns from their portfolios....

States May Not Sue Local Governments

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 09:00:00 GMT

States May Not Sue Local Governments by David J. LaBrec
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the City of Galveston is immune from a suit filed against it by the State of Texas.
The case arose when the Attorney General (“AG”) sued the City to recover the state's costs to repair damages resulting from a ruptured City water line beneath a state highway. The City filed a plea to the jurisdiction of the trial court, asserting governmental immunity. The trial court granted the plea and the State appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed, holding that the City had no immunity from suit by the State....