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Pedernales Electric Cooperative
March 5, 2009
Settlement of PEC lawsuit upheld
The state’s 3rd Court of Appeals affirmed a settlement in a member-led lawsuit in the Pedernales Electric Cooperative in an opinion released Thursday morning, potentially bringing to a close a months-long fight between a Hill Country attorney and a bevy of lawyers representing the Johnson City-based utility and plaintiffs who originally filed suit.
However, it’s unclear whether David Allen Hall, the patent attorney who took on the mammoth case, will pursue any additional appeals. Hall could not be immediately reached Thursday morning.
The appeal was rejected, at least in part, because Hall raised issues in his appeal that weren’t raised during the trial court.
The lawsuit settlement was controversial because it provided an immunity shield in certain future civil actions against former co-op leaders and many of their consultants. “We hold that the trial court did not commit a clear abuse of discretion in approving the settlement agreement as fair, adequate, and reasonable,” the opinion read.
The member-led lawsuit was filed in the summer of 2007 following complaints of closed-door practices at the member-owned utility. It eventually helped force a series of disclosures, which led to several resignations by top-level officials.
A preliminary settlement was reached in the spring of 2008, and was appealed that summer.
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