Countersuit over police chase crash

HOUSTON — An appellate panel in Texas found that the trial court should not have denied the majority of Harris County’s governmental immunity claims in a counterclaim brought by a driver and passenger who were hurt by a sheriff’s deputy involved in a high-speed chase. The county’s immunity was not entirely waived after it sued the pair for negligence and property damage. The county cannot waive its immunity insofar as their counterclaim will offset any potential monetary recovery by the county, but it is immune to their claims to the extent their damages exceed that amount.