Jonathan Long, Talare - Risk forum
Genomgång av aktuellt skadefall – Texas Freeze, tempers rise as temperatures sink and logic and law go out the (non-insulating) windows…
Jonathan Long, If
Jonathan Long has handled US liability claims at If P&C for 15 years. A Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, he specialized in UK civil litigation for a decade before moving to Sweden as a love refugee at the turn of the millennium.
The Texas Freeze of February 2021 exposed the Lone Star State’s population to temperatures that their homes, clothes and lifestyles were not remotely adapted to handle.
It left a toll of death and destruction leading to loud cries for compensation. Anger was turned on power generators, suppliers and the power grid operator, ERCOT, as the unprecedented conditions led to failures in the supply of gas and electricity that made the misery and danger far, far worse.
Conspiracy theories abounded – in spite of a warning winter back in 2010, power companies were accused of agreeing amongst themselves not to invest in “weatherproofing”. By the end of November 2023 there were about 250 lawsuits with more than 31,000 plaintiffs.
The grid operator itself, ERCOT, was found by the courts to have immunity from suit so all focus is on the power generators and suppliers. A new theory of legal liability has been invented by plaintiffs, i.e. that the law recognizes a duty to supply power, which duty was breached.
Jonathan Long is handling a claim for a one of the defendant companies insured with If and looks forward to sharing the rollercoaster journey of the litigation so far, as we approach three years since the events themselves.