The Texas Supreme Court scrapped lawsuits against power generators over the 2021 winter storm—no explanation offered. (Texas Tribune)
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court threw out lawsuits brought by tens of thousands of residents and small businesses who lost power during the storm, which resulted in 246 deaths and >$300B in damages. The generators involved, including CenterPoint and NRG, have argued that the record-breaking cold—not their own failures—caused the harm.
The pattern: In 2023, the same court ruled that ERCOT couldn’t be sued at all, granting it sovereign immunity as a provider of “essential government service.” Between that and Friday’s decision, it appears that legal avenues for storm accountability in Texas have effectively dried up.