"Family of 11-year-old boy who died in Texas deep freeze files $100 million suit against power companies", 22 February 2021

Texas power providers Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Entergy Corporation have been hit with a $100 million lawsuit accusing them of gross negligence in the death of a child whose family suspects he suffered hypothermia when they lost electricity and heat in their mobile home during a historic cold snap.

The mother of 11-year-old Cristian Pineda filed the wrongful death lawsuit in Jefferson County District Court, alleging the utility giants "put profits over the welfare of people" by ignoring previous recommendations to winterize its power grid, which sustained an epic failure last week and left more than 4 million customers without heat and electricity as temperatures in some parts of the state plunged to single digits.

... While the Pineda family contends the child froze to death, the official cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy, according to the Conroe Police Department.

Entergy -- which delivers electricity to customers in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi -- released a statement to ABC station KTRK in Houston saying, "We are deeply saddened by the loss of life in our community. We are unable to comment due to pending litigation."

ERCOT, which manages the electric grid for more than 25 million customers, said in a statement that it had not yet reviewed the lawsuit but "will respond accordingly once we do."

... "Because approximately 46% of privately owned generation tripped offline this past Monday morning, we are confident that our grid operators made the right choice to avoid a statewide blackout," ERCOT said in its statement.

But the lawsuit -- filed on behalf of Maria Pineda and the estate of Cristian Pineda by attorney Anthony Buzbee -- contends that power was turned off for "those who were most vulnerable to the cold."