§ 113.004.No Waiver of Other Defenses

One sentence, and it is the sentence that keeps the chapter narrow.

The chapter does not waive a defense or a limitation on damages available to a party to a contract, other than sovereign immunity to suit.

Immunity to suit is a jurisdictional bar, and removing it means the case can be heard. It says nothing about who wins.

Ordinary contract defenses survive. Force majeure, conditions precedent, notice requirements, excuse and limitations all remain available to the district.

Negotiated damage limits survive too, on top of the statutory bar on consequential and exemplary damages in Section 113.003(b).

The section is drafted as a warning to claimants. Getting past immunity is the beginning of the case, not the end of it.

Chapter 114 says the same thing about state agency contracts, in nearly the same words, which is how this family of waivers is built.

The surviving defenses are the ones that decide most contract cases. Whether a condition was met, whether notice was given, whether the purchaser performed, and whether suit was filed in time are all still live.

For a claimant the sequence is the lesson. Immunity is answered first, on the pleadings, and the contract is answered afterward on the same terms as any private dispute.