TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY, Appellant v. THE METHODIST HOSPITAL, Appellee, 221 S.W.3d 267

Summary

The university was connected to the hospital by an underground tunnel system and alleged that the hospital had diverted and/or impounded surface water into the hospital from the entrances to its underground parking garage and loading dock and then allowed and/or caused the water to flow from the hospital into the tunnel and, ultimately, into the university. The court held that the university raised a fact issue as to whether the hospital diverted or impounded surface waters through tunnels and passageways to the university in violation of Tex. Water Code Ann. § 11.086 (2000). Nothing in § 11.086 suggested that accumulated rainfall was no longer diffused surface water once it had been, in any way, diverted by artificial means or touched by the hands of man. The university raised a fact issue as to whether the hospital owed the university a duty under an undertaking theory. The evidence supporting the university's negligence claim against the hospital also supported its nuisance claim. ...