§ 101.021.Governmental Liability

The heart of the Act, and it is two paragraphs long because the waiver is narrow.

The first branch covers property damage, personal injury, and death proximately caused by the wrongful act or omission or the negligence of an employee acting within the scope of employment, if the harm arises from the operation or use of a motor-driven vehicle or motor-driven equipment and the employee would be personally liable to the claimant under Texas law.

The second branch covers personal injury and death caused by a condition or use of tangible personal or real property if the governmental unit would, were it a private person, be liable under Texas law.

Four differences between the two branches decide most cases.

Property damage is recoverable only under the first. A claim for damaged property from a condition of premises is outside the waiver entirely.

The first requires an employee; the second does not — it turns on the condition or use of property rather than on anyone's conduct.

The first requires the employee to be personally liable, which imports any individual immunity the employee holds. If the employee is immune, the governmental unit is not liable through this branch.

"Tangible" excludes information. A claim that a governmental unit misused records, gave wrong advice, or failed to act on data is not a claim about tangible property, and it is where a great many claims fail.

The premise defect section then reduces the duty owed under the second branch to that owed a licensee, and the exclusions in Subchapter C withdraw whole categories from both.