City Settles Lawsuits Involving Brushy Creek Spill

SOURCE
Austin City Connection
June 7, 2001
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The Austin City Council today, June 7, agreed to pay $500,000 to settle with more than 300 plaintiffs claiming harm from a sewage spill into Brushy Creek in July 1998.

The settlement, negotiated through a mediator, dismisses the City of Austin from further liability in cases involving 319 plaintiffs, which included 30 individuals who were supplied water from private wells.

Under terms of the settlement:

• The City pays $477,000 to the plaintiffs in exchange for the release of liability.
• The City pays $23,000 for the Court-appointed “ad litem,” a representative who will review the settlement in behalf of any minors who were plaintiffs.
• Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District dismisses its cross-action lawsuit against the City at no cost to the City.
• Plaintiffs will continue to pursue their action against ECO Resources Inc., the firm under City contract to operate the lift station when the spill occurred. City personnel may still be called as fact witnesses for the trials.

Plaintiff attorneys praised the City for its efforts in mediating the dispute.

“The City worked with us to come up with a fair resolution to the issues,” said Jason Gibson of Shelton Smith and Associates of Houston that represented 251 of the plaintiffs. “I think the City approached the issues with a sense of conscience and a sense of doing right for the people directly involved, as well as its residents throughout the entire Austin community. I think it’s a good deal for our clients and the City of Austin as well.”

Attorney Stuart Whitlow, who represented the private well owners and one MUD resident family, agreed.

“Although the settlement process with the City has not concluded, I can say that the City has made a good faith settlement offer and I have enjoyed working with both the City’s in-house attorneys and its outside counsel to resolve this matter,” said Whitlow of Rippy, Whitlow and Ranc, LLP, in Austin and Round Rock.

The settlement dismisses cases against the City of Austin in State District Courts in both Travis and Williamson counties in which residents near Brushy Creek claimed the City was negligent in the operation of motor-driven equipment when lightning struck a lift station the night of July 13-14, 1998.

The lightning disabled the electrical supply to the station, as well as the telephone-based warning system. Because the electric supply was cut off, the pumps in the lift station ceased pumping and untreated sewage backed up out of a nearby manhole cover and into Brushy Creek.

Because the telephone-based warning system also was disabled, ECO Resources did not become immediately aware of the power failure and the sewage spilled into Brushy Creek for several hours. Approximately 170,000 gallons were released.

The sewage went into four wells operated by the Brushy Creek MUD. The MUD pumped water from those wells and supplied it as drinking water to its customers. Many MUD residents became ill after drinking the water that was contaminated with the bacteria cryptosporidium, which can cause gastrointestinal ailments.