§ 101.025.Waiver of Governmental Immunity; Permission to Sue

The provision that opens the courthouse door, and its qualifier defines how far.

Sovereign immunity to suit is waived and abolished to the extent of liability created by this chapter. A person having a claim under the chapter may sue a governmental unit for damages allowed by this chapter.

"To the extent of liability created by this chapter" is the whole limit. The waiver is not general. It reaches exactly as far as the waiver section creates liability and no further — so the exclusions in Subchapter C do not merely provide defences; they mark places where immunity was never lifted.

The distinction between immunity from suit and immunity from liability matters here. Immunity from suit bars the action from being brought at all and is jurisdictional, which is why these cases are so often decided on a plea to the jurisdiction rather than on the merits.

A claimant must therefore plead facts bringing the claim within the waiver. Failing to do so is not a weak case; it is an absence of jurisdiction, and the court cannot proceed.

Subsection (b) is a permission, not a grant of rights. The person must already have "a claim under this chapter," and may then sue for "damages allowed by this chapter" — that is, within the caps and excluding exemplary damages.