No. V-0069 (1947).

• Case Date: March 06, 1947
• Court: Texas

Texas Attorney General Opinions 1947. No. V-0069 (1947). 1March 6, 1947Honorable Victor C. MarshallExecutive DirectorTexas State Soil Conservation Board2nd Floor, First State Bank BuildingTemple, TexasOpinion No. V-69Re: May the San Jacinto Soil Conservation District contract with the San Jacinto River Conservation and Reclamation District to hold said Reclamation District harmless from liability, resulting from the negligent use of equipment and the negligent acts of employees operating such equipment, during the time that such equipment and employees are on loan from the San Jacinto River Conservation and Reclamation District but are under the control of the San Jacinto Soil Conservation District?Dear Sir:The question presented in your letter of January 25, 1947, is whether the Board of Supervisors of the San Jacinto Soil Conservation District may, under the "State Soil Conservation Law", Article 165a-4, V.A.C.S., contract with the San Jacinto River Conservation and Reclamation District, as follows:

"Second Party agrees to hold harmless and indemnify First Party from any liabilities for damages or negligence, or for any act of the operator or employees used in operating such equipment or material while same is under the direction of Second Party, and until it is returned to First Party."

2The quoted provision is found in Paragraph 5 of the proposed contract between the two districts, which was attached to your letter and is returned here with. For convenience, the San Jacinto Soil Conservation District will be hereinafter referred to as "Conservation District" and the San Jacinto River Conservation and Reclamation District will be hereinafter referred to as "Reclamation District". The equipment and materials referred to in the quoted section are not identified by the contract, but it is assumed that such equipment and material consists of bulldozers, graders and other machines of a type usually used in road work. Your file indicates that the Conservation District is presently using a maintainer furnished by the Reclamation District for terracing and drainage work. The question may be stated in more general terms, as follows: May one State agency contract with another State agency to assume tortious liability resulting from the negligent use of equipment and the negligent acts of the employees in operating such equipment during the time that such equipment and employees are under the control and direction of the borrowing agency. The solution of the problem presented requires an understanding of the nature and of the powers and duties of the State agencies involved. The San Jacinto Soil Conservation District was created under Article 165a-4, V.A.C.S., Acts 1939, p. 7, as amended Acts 1941, p. 491, and known as the "State Soil Conservation Law". A Soil Conservation District formed under this Act "shall constitute a governmental division of this State and a Public body corporate and politic exercising public powers"; with power to carry out preventive and control measures through engineering operations, methods of cultivation, growing of vegetation, changes in use of land; to enter into agreements with any agency, governmental or otherwise, in the carrying on of erosion control and prevention operations; to purchase, improve and dispose of real and personal property; to make available to landowners engineering machinery and equipment, fertilizer and seeds; to...