On June 18, 2015, Elaine Hale and Kenneth Parker, Jr. filed suit against CenterPoint, alleging “pulmonary complications” and damage to the condo and its contents.
Two years earlier, on June 20, 2013, a transformer flash fire erupted in an underground vault in a building half a city block and five stories away from Hale’s condominium, which is owned by Parker.
Hale was out of the country at the time and did not return until two weeks after the incident. She did not learn about the flash fire until May 2014, nearly a full year later, court records show.
“Hale’s basic complaint is that soot from the flash fire had somehow traveled from the underground vault in a separate building, down half a block, and up five stories to the interior of her condominium, covering the surfaces in her condominium, making her lethargic, and causing her to cough,” states CenterPoint’s appellate brief.
CenterPoint also pointed out “particular deficiencies” in Hale’s damages evidence, such as:
- The fact that Hale sought recovery of mortgage payments because the condominium was “uninhabitable” during a time period that she was in fact living there;
- Money for rental fees despite the fact that she lived with friends and family rent free; and
-Reimbursement for electricity payments for which she admits she was not formally charged.
Court records show CenterPoint employees were attempting to repair the transformer when the fire erupted.
In their appellate brief, Hale and Parker contend a CenterPoint supervisor order employees to replace a cover despite the transformer reporting erroneous voltages. When the cover did not fit properly, the employees reattempted to place the “ill-fitting cover, causing the arc flash, and the subsequent fire.”
To support their claim, Hale and Parker relied on the expert testimony of Dr. Arch Carson, who, based on his examination of Hale and her apartment, concluded Hale’s respiratory problems were caused by soot deposits from the June 20, 2013 fire.
On Aug. 2, justices found Hale and Parker offered no expert testimony supporting their assertion that a transformer fire could not occur in the absence of negligence.
“The only expert testimony in the record is from a medical doctor, Arch Carson, who—during his deposition—admitted that he had ‘no expertise in the cause and origins of fires,’” the opinion states.
“Having held that appellants did not produce more than a scintilla of evidence to support the breach element of their negligence claim and did not properly invoke the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, we further hold that the trial court did not err in granting CenterPoint’s no-evidence summary-judgment motion.”
CenterPoint is represented by Amy Maddux and Joel Montgomery, attorneys for the Houston law firm Shipley Snell Montgomery.
Houston attorney Reginald McKamie, Sr. represents Hale and Parker.
Appeals case No. 01-16-00963-CV