(Photo : Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 21: An aerial view of an electrical substation on February 21, 2021 in Houston, Texas. Millions of Texans lost their power when winter storm Uri hit the state and knocked out coal, natural gas and nuclear plants that were unprepared for the freezing temperatures brought on by the storm. Wind turbines that provide an estimated 24 percent of energy to the state became inoperable when they froze.
After losing electricity and heat in their mobile home in the middle of the historic cold snap, the family of the 11-year-old boy who lost his life due to hypothermia filed a $100 million suit against the Entergy Corporation and Texas power providers Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT.)
Texas Family Files $100M Suit Against Power Companies
Based on the family, they are filing the $100 million suit as the 11-year-old, Cristian Pineda suffered hypothermia due to the negligence of the power companies.
According to ABC News, the Jefferson County District Court received the death lawsuit from the mother of the 11-year-old Christian Pineda. The family alleged that the power companies put profits over the welfare of the public by ignoring the recommendations it received in the past regarding the need to winterize its power grid.
Moreover, the power grid sustained an epic failure last week which left more than 4 million customers in the area without heat and electricity as temperatures in numerous areas of the state plummeted to single digits.
In addition, the lawsuit also stated that despite having knowledge of the dire weather forecast for at least a week in advance, and the knowledge that the system was not prepared for more than a decade. ERCOT and Entergy failed to take any preemptory action that could prevent the crisis as they were totally not prepared with the crisis at hand.
While sharing a bed with his 3-year-old sibling under a pile of blankets as they tried alternatives to stay warm, on Tuesday, Christian died in his family's mobile home in the Houston suburb of Conroe. Before his death, the sixth-grader, who migrated to the United States two years ago with his family was a healthy boy playing in the snow for the first time in his life based on her mother's statement, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The $100 million suit also stated that Maria Pineda, the mother of the 11-year-old boy, found her son unresponsive the following day and called 911 while attempting CPR.
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Based on the Conroe Police Department, the Pineda family insists that the child froze to death. However, the official cause of death is still pending since they're waiting for the results of the autopsy.
On the other hand, Entergy released a statement in a news agency stating they are deeply saddened by the loss of life in their community and they are not able to comment because of the pending litigation.
ERCOT, the company managing the electric grid of more than 25 million electric consumers mentioned in their statement that it had not yet reviewed the lawsuit, but they will be responding accordingly once they do.
The company also added that their thoughts are with all the Texans who have and are suffering this past week.
Meanwhile, Entergy, the company delivering electricity to customers in the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, mentioned in their statement that they are also not able to comment due to the pending litigation. The company also added that they are deeply saddened by the loss of life in their community.
Officials of ERCOT stated that initiated emergency rolling blackouts on February 15 after a snowstorm blanketed majority of Texas, put the temperatures falling to sub-freezing levels. ERCOT also mentioned that they made the drastic actions in order to avoid a catastrophic statewide blackout, ABC13 reported.
Related article: Texas Officials Caution Residents of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Wake of Winter Storm Uri
