Family of 11-year-old boy who died in Texas cold snap file $100m lawsuit against power companies

[Nithavela]

Which event are you referring to?

What Happened In 2011 - Historical Events 2011

He's referring to this one:

31 January 2011 History Events - What Happened on January 31st 2011

 

[OldWiseGuy]

If 2011 hadn’t happened that would be reasonable. But it did.

If they were ordered to winterize but didn't then they would be liable. Was there an order by a regulatory agency to do so?

 

[hedrick]

Which event are you referring to?

What Happened In 2011 - Historical Events 2011

Texas Power Outage: State Had Warning In 2011

 

[hedrick]

In NJ we had a major outage after Sandy. We invested billions of dollars to make the distribution system less vulnerable. But Texas didn’t, because its system is organized to shift risk off the companies to the consumers. This gives you lower rates but higher risk. That’s a decision Texans may choose to make. I’m glad I don’t live there.

Not all of Texas had problems. El Paso is part of the US grid, and winterized its facilities. They were fine. El Paso Heeded the Warnings and Avoided a Winter Catastrophe

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Texas Power Outage: State Had Warning In 2011

So the blame should be laid at the feet of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, as governing authority.

 

[MIDutch]

So the blame should be laid at the feet of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, as governing authority.

Meh. People died. Happens all the time. Why punish the (GOP) politicians having to make difficult decisions or big corporations trying to make a profit?
.
.
.
[/s]

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

The love of money (profits) caused the problem.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Doing the right thing. Many Republican leaders would be out of jobs.

You are so right! But doing right is should be every politician's goal.I have heard some speaking harshly about their customers calling them useless eaters. Those useless eaters stopped buying their products and crippled their profits.

 

[Par5]

It is very sad that a young child has died. What I find equally sad is that even though the child only died a few days ago, the almost obscene haste of the family to look for big money compensation.
They lost a precious little child. I would have thought their first concern would have been to grieve for the loss of that child and try and come to terms with that loss.

 

[Nithavela]

It is very sad that a young child has died. What I find equally sad is that even though the child only died a few days ago, the almost obscene haste of the family to look for big money compensation.
They lost a precious little child. I would have thought their first concern would have been to grieve for the loss of that child and try and come to terms with that loss.

One way of coming to terms with such a loss is to blame it on someone else. Right or wrong, that's totally normal behaviour and has little to do with "looking for big money".

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

It is very sad that a young child has died. What I find equally sad is that even though the child only died a few days ago, the almost obscene haste of the family to look for big money compensation.
They lost a precious little child. I would have thought their first concern would have been to grieve for the loss of that child and try and come to terms with that loss.

People grieve in their own way. I can see the family filing a suit in anger and looking for someone to blame for it.

 

[rambot]

Yes. Power cannot be guaranteed. That's a fact.

But theoretically that means they neve rhave to do upkeep to their grid then. And if power fails...oh well.

 

[Landon Caeli]

But theoretically that means they neve rhave to do upkeep to their grid then. And if power fails...oh well.

Not exactly... If a line burns down in a wet cow pasture, and electrocutes all the cattle, then the power company would be liable for the costs of the killed animals.

...But as far as "losing" electricity, due to acts of nature, it's impossible to hold the company responsible. Suppose there was an earthquake, or a plane crashes into powerlines, or a Falling tree, or a volcano causes reduced light to where solar doesn't work, or the Jetstream changes due to climate change, and wind farms fail.

Nature cannot be predicted.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It is very sad that a young child has died. What I find equally sad is that even though the child only died a few days ago, the almost obscene haste of the family to look for big money compensation.
They lost a precious little child. I would have thought their first concern would have been to grieve for the loss of that child and try and come to terms with that loss.

It does seem suspicious.

 

[rambot]

Not exactly... If a line burns down in a wet cow pasture, and electrocutes all the cattle, then the power company would be liable for the costs of the killed animals.

...But as far as "losing" electricity, due to acts of nature, it's impossible to hold the company responsible. Suppose there was an earthquake, or a plane crashes into powerlines, or a Falling tree, or a volcano causes reduced light to where solar doesn't work, or the Jetstream changes due to climate change, and wind farms fail.

Nature cannot be predicted.

...and yet this EXACT scenario was predicted.

That is SOOOOOO weird!

pfft....climate scientists...what do they know eh?

Not only predicted but recommendations were given that would have NOT allowed thi to happen.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

But theoretically that means they neve rhave to do upkeep to their grid then. And if power fails...oh well.

Where I live we have a "Citizens Utility Board" that makes sure rates are kept low. Do such consumer advocates also starve the power companies of money needed for upgrades? Seems to me that people often make a 'deal with the devil' just to save a few bucks then scream when it bites them in the rear.

 

[DaisyDay]

Does that foretell future lawsuits for other deaths? I can’t see how they’ll distinguish one life is more important than another. Unless they do a class-action lawsuit.

Yours in His Service,

~bella

Usually by economic loss which are what actuaries are for.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Not exactly... If a line burns down in a wet cow pasture, and electrocutes all the cattle, then the power company would be liable for the costs of the killed animals.

...But as far as "losing" electricity, due to acts of nature, it's impossible to hold the company responsible. Suppose there was an earthquake, or a plane crashes into powerlines, or a Falling tree, or a volcano causes reduced light to where solar doesn't work, or the Jetstream changes due to climate change, and wind farms fail.

Nature cannot be predicted.

I dunno. I think one could have predicted that Puerto Rico would eventually suffer a catastrophic hurricane, for which they had decades to prepare but didn't.

We have thousands of miles of dikes in flood prone areas that need upgrading as well. Every flood in those areas brings enormous losses when their dikes, predictably, fail.

 

[DaisyDay]

Not exactly... If a line burns down in a wet cow pasture, and electrocutes all the cattle, then the power company would be liable for the costs of the killed animals.

...But as far as "losing" electricity, due to acts of nature, it's impossible to hold the company responsible. Suppose there was an earthquake, or a plane crashes into powerlines, or a Falling tree, or a volcano causes reduced light to where solar doesn't work, or the Jetstream changes due to climate change, and wind farms fail.

Well, most building codes nowadays require a certain amount of earthquake-proofing in structures built on fault lines. When a plane crashes into a power-line, I'm pretty sure the airline is held responsible. When the jet-stream changes, as it will, weather stations track it and report it to those who need to be aware. In this particular case, the wind farm failed only because the company failed to winterize it because who could've possibly have foreseen winter.

Nature cannot be predicted.

You're so right! Who could predict that winters get cold or summers hot? Who could possibly predict a river overflowing into the floodplains or tornadoes in the spring in the Texas panhandle or wildfires in the western forests or mudslides on a deforested mountainside or hurricanes in Caribbean or beach erosion on the coast? Nature is so mysterious!

 

[Par5]

One way of coming to terms with such a loss is to blame it on someone else. Right or wrong, that's totally normal behaviour and has little to do with "looking for big money".

I beg to differ. Compensation culture is big business, and it's always about getting as much money as possible. You are correct though when you say that such a thing is the norm.