Houston Appeals Court: Winter Storm Uri Cases Against Transmission and Distribution Giants to Move Forward

The Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston ruled Tuesday that 20,000 plaintiffs in wrongful death, personal injury and other Winter Storm Uri-related lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages from Texas electric transmission and distribution utilities — the actual businesses providing power via wires connected to people’s homes — may move forward to trial.

A three-judge panel of the Houston Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Harris County trial judge Sylvia Matthews was correct in allowing allegations of gross negligence and intentional misconduct to proceed against the TDUs, which include CenterPoint Energy, Oncor Electric Delivery and American Electric Power.