Texas Power Companies Win Supreme Court Appeal in Winter Storm Uri Case.
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An effort to revive legal claims blaming negligence by power companies for billions of dollars in consumer losses during Winter Storm Uri has been rejected by the Texas Supreme Court.
In its March 27 decision, court justices rejected an appeal of a lower court decision relating to power company actions during the storm five years ago. The lower court had ruled that the power companies had no obligation to provide electricity to homes or businesses during the storm, according to a summation of the case by Law360, an online legal journal.
As such, the Texas Supreme Court’s action upholds the lower court’s rejection of the consolidated claims brought by about 20,000 Texans, Law360 reports.
Winter Storm Uri killed hundreds of people in Texas and caused billions of dollars in property damage. Citing common law, the consumer plaintiffs had claimed that energy companies ignored their obligations to take important actions to insulate their equipment from the cold weather. The power generation companies countered that no court has recognized a common law duty to generate electricity for consumers, according to Law360.
The cases are In Re Bernadine Edwards et at, In Re All America Insurance Company et al., In Re Randy Turner, In Re Valerie Daniels and In Re Ernest Peterman, individually and on behalf of the estate of Ellen Peterman, 25-0094, 25-0103, 25-0114, 25-0121 and 25-0129, in the Texas Supreme Court.