The Texas Supreme Court on Friday undid a jury’s finding of negligence and $2.8 million award to 30 homeowners in rural Matagorda County who experienced flooding during Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Lead plaintiff Ricky Ellison and the other homeowners had sued Tenaris Bay City, a pipe manufacturer, claiming design defects in the facility’s drainage system. The court’s decision reversed a Harris County trial court, and the Fourteenth Court of Appeals and rendered judgment for Tenaris on all claims.
Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock wrote the opinion, concluding that there was legally insufficient evidence that the houses in Van Vleck and Bay City would not have flooded but for the defendant’s negligence.
“Houses all throughout this flood-prone region were at risk of flooding during the storm, regardless of the presence of nearby industrial facilities,” Blacklock said, noting that Harvey dumped 21.6 inches of rain in Matagorda County over four days.
Justices Rebeca A. Huddle and Evan Young, both former Baker Botts partners, did not participate in the case. Tenaris was represented by Mark Little of Baker Botts.
Blacklock focused on testimony from the plaintiffs’ expert witness, civil engineer Gabriel Novak, who acknowledged that he could have done the scientific analysis necessary to know the cause of the flooding of these houses but had not done so.
“Novak’s testimony provided sufficient evidence that design flaws at the Tenaris facility contributed to some additional flooding in the local area during Hurricane Harvey. But that fact alone is no evidence that anything Tenaris did or did not do was a but-for cause of the flood damage at any of the thirty particular properties at issue,” Blacklock said.
The homeowners were represented by I. Nelson Heggen of Smith Parker Elliott in Houston, who told the court during oral arguments that Tenaris in 2013 transformed a sod farm that served as a sponge absorbing flood water into “a cookie sheet and they aimed it at the town.”
Tenaris hired Fluor Enterprises to design and build the drainage system, including detention ponds. The plan was approved by the county drainage district on recommendation from a construction and design firm that reviewed the proposal. The company, Jones & Carter, settled before trial, and Fluor settled after trial.
“The jury must have believed that without the additional flooding attributable to Tenaris, the plaintiffs’ flood damage would not have occurred,” Blacklock said. “Perhaps that belief would be proven accurate if we could obtain perfect knowledge of the past. But our judgments must be based on evidence, and on this evidentiary record, the belief that Tenaris caused the flooding of the plaintiffs’ properties during Hurricane Harvey rests only on speculation, not on evidence.”
The case number is 23-0808.