Texas A&M administrators not immune from bonfire suits

Sovereign immunity does not bar suits against Texas A&M University administrators over the 1999 bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured 27, according to a 10th Court of Appeals decision May 28. The 2-1 per curiam majority in Bowen, et al. v. Comstock, et al. found that sovereign immunity does not apply, because the plaintiffs sued A&M administrators in their individual capacities. The decision is somewhat unusual in that Justice Felipe Reyna joined Chief Justice Tom Gray in holding that the 361st District Court in Brazos County did not err in denying the A&M administrators’ plea to the jurisdiction. It’s more common to see Reyna joining Justice Bill Vance. But Vance was the lone dissenter in Comstock. 
-- Mary Alice Robbins