Houston residents file $100 million class action lawsuit against CenterPoint over ongoing power outages caused by Hurricane Beryl – Houston Public Media

Three Hurricane Beryl-related lawsuits were filed against CenterPoint Energy in Harris County this week, including two class action lawsuits seeking more than $100 million each. The lawsuits are in response to extended power outages associated with the storm and a downed power line that caused “life-altering injuries” to a Houston man.

Behind the class action lawsuits are two well-known Houston lawyers – former mayoral and city council candidate Tony Buzbee and Michael Fertitta, the son of hotel magnate and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.

Buzbee filed his lawsuit Monday on behalf of the Berg Hospitality Group, which owns Killen’s BBQ, Saltwater Grill and other popular restaurants in the Houston and Galveston areas. The law firm of Michael Fertitta filed its lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of local residents Delmy Flores, Erin Greaney and Peter Hawn.

All of these plaintiffs allege that they were without power for 48 hours or more following the Category 1 hurricane that passed almost directly over Houston on July 8, resulting in lost wages and income and spoiled food they had refrigerated or frozen. More than 2.2 million homes, schools and businesses — about 80% of the customers served by CenterPoint — lost power at the height of the storm, and hundreds of thousands remained without power for more than a week afterward.

“CenterPoint was negligent in maintaining its lines and equipment, failed to properly invest in infrastructure, failed to adequately prepare for the hurricane, and failed to properly restore power,” says the lawsuit filed on behalf of residents. “… CenterPoint failed its customers during a Category 1 hurricane; it is frightening to imagine the extent of the power outage that would be caused by CenterPoint’s inability to do so if a Category 5 hurricane made landfall in the greater Houston area.”

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CenterPoint declined to comment on the lawsuits, saying in an email Friday that it was the company’s “policy not to comment on pending litigation.”

Focus

The utility, which owns and operates the electric infrastructure in the greater Houston area and supplies power to much of the region, is facing increasing criticism from local and state authorities following last week’s hurricane. The Public Utility Commission of Texas has launched an investigation into CenterPoint’s storm preparedness and response, and a special Texas Senate committee, including lawmakers from the greater Houston area, has been created to look into the matter.

More than half of the 22 storm-related deaths confirmed in the greater Houston area were caused by widespread power outages during a summer heat wave, according to the local coroner’s office.

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One of the lawsuits filed this week alleges that a Houston man was seriously injured on July 11 when a tree-cracked power line fell on him at his Lakewood Forest home. Carlos Ruvalcaba suffered second- and third-degree burns, has undergone multiple surgeries and is suffering from depression, according to the lawsuit, which seeks more than $1 million in damages.

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that CenterPoint was negligent because it failed to properly inspect and maintain its power lines and the trees and other vegetation around them, and that the company failed to adequately warn Ruvalcaba of dangerous conditions.

Amber Murry, Office of Congressman Randy Weber

“(CenterPoint) acted with blatant and malicious disregard for (Ruvalcaba’s) health and safety,” the lawsuit states. “(CenterPoint) was constructively and subjectively aware of the extreme risk posed by the conditions that caused (Ruvalcaba’s) injury, but took no action to remedy them.”

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Both class action lawsuits describe CenterPoint as a highly profitable monopoly in the region and accuse the company of fraud, misrepresentation and inadequate information to customers about outages and recovery times. They point to the lack of an online outage map when the storm hit, which led Houston residents to use the Whataburger app’s mapping feature to find out which parts of the region were most affected. The map CenterPoint later released contained inaccuracies.

CenterPoint had already removed a map of power outages from its website in May after a deadly derecho storm cut off power to more than 900,000 customers in the Houston area.

The lawsuit filed by Buzbee on behalf of the local restaurants also states that they are taking legal action because “the government has so far failed miserably to compel CenterPoint to do what any reasonable business in its situation would and should do.”

“If a member of the proposed class fails to pay their bill on time, CenterPoint will of course shut off power and deny service,” the petition continues. “However, if CenterPoint negligently fails to provide power when it has promised to do so and is legally required to do so, it figuratively shrugs its shoulders, pretends ignorance, and blames its failure on the weather or other external forces, claiming it had no idea or inkling that the event causing the shutoff could be so bad or cause such havoc.”

“The members of the proposed class have had enough. If the members of the proposed class conducted their business the way CenterPoint does, they would quickly be out of business.”