BLUEBONNET COOPERATIVE SETTLES WILDFIRE LAWSUITS

  

The Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative has settled dozens of lawsuits filed after the devastating wildfires in the Bastrop area on the Labor Day Weekend in 2011. .

 

The Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative  was accused of gross negligence in the most destructive fire in Texas history.  The wildfires that raged through the Bastrop area on the Labor Day weekend three years ago consumed nearly 34,000 acres, destroyed 1700 homes and left two people dead.

The Cooperative has now settled at least 70  lawsuits with nearly all of the plaintiffs but the amount of the settlement has not been disclosed.

Bluebonnet Cooperative CEO Mark Rose says that all matters of controversy between the plaintiffs and Bluebonnet have been ‘fully and completely’ resolved.’

A suit filed by Central Texas Attorney William Rossick in September of 2011 on behalf of several customer/.members was also among the settled cases.

On September 4th, 2011 fallen trees knocked down Bluebonnet power lines, sparking a wildfire in an area near State Highway 21.  The Texas Forest Service reported a second fire ignited four miles away, when a dead tree fell on another power line.  The two fires merged and swept across the Bastrop area with the help of a strong southerly wind during a severe drought.

There are still some lawsuits outstanding, however.

The Cooperative has its own lawsuit.  They filed a $35 million lawsuit against the tree trimming service, Asplundh for failing to keep the vegetation in the area under control.

 

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