City of Rockwall v. Hughes

In City of Rockwall v. Hughes, 246 S.W.3d 621 (Tex. 2008), the Texas Supreme Court initially noted that "unless an annexation is wholly void or the Legislature has expressly granted a private right to challenge the annexation in some manner, a quo warranto proceeding brought by the State is the only proper means of attacking a municipality's annexation in court." 246 S.W.3d at 627. In Hughes, the appellee did not argue that the annexation proceeding was void but argued that the Legislature granted landowners a private right to arbitration by enacting section 43.052(i). Id. The Texas Supreme Court, however, rejected this argument, holding that section 43.052(i) "does not create a substantive private right for a landowner to compel arbitration if a municipality takes action on the landowner's petition by denying it . . . ." Id. at 631.