Their 11-year-old son was found dead in his bed Tuesday morning after their mobile home lost power as chaos descended on Texas. Now, the family has sued the energy company for gross negligence.

Houston attorney Tony Buzbee filed the lawsuit Saturday against Entergy Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas on behalf of the Pineda family, who believes their son, Cristian, died of hypothermia in the subfreezing cold snap that blanketed the state last week.

“Common sense tells you the weather played a part in his death,” Buzbee told Click2Houston. “His mother is very adamant, clear that he had no underlying conditions whatsoever that would make him particularly vulnerable to cold weather.”

hey texas  whats the scoop  its sad  really but quit a few died  did they not

i can not image the cold  u all went thru

I saw that story and it's really sad. I do not have any idea how this is going to turn out. It was dang sure cold that's for sure and not having any heat source to stay warm... brutal... I don't know all the details.... but I will say it got cold enough in our trailer we could see our breath. I will also say, I slept in my house 2 nights under  probably 6 blankets plus 5 dogs piled up on me and I stayed warm.... enough... the rest of the time I had slept in our lq ... my daughter stayed with the dogs a few nights too, piled up with blankets,  in 1 room with doors closed .. it helped a little... but still very cold ... I hate even thinking about it anymore. It'll be interesting for sure to see how this pans in court. I hope they get something but no amount will ever bring their son back. Very sad deal 

dumb qestion were there any shelters

can you image   when our ansectors wenty through this how many died

we are so blessed  

I'm not 100% sure in that area if there was. I know there were a few churches and the expo center in Belton was opened up for shelter in our area... but... the roads were treacherous with all the ice and downed trees/power lines so that could have been an issue for some... (depending on  the timeline) I know a lot of people drove their elderly and folks with young kids/babies to shelters... some shelters were open only till 9 or 10pm locally too, so that wouldn't help overnight. 

It's a terrible tragedy, to be sure, but I sure as hell would want to know more details before jumping on any bandwagon.  Bad deal, all the way around.  

I need to know why and when the government became responsible for the weather...

Not to make a very serious subject sound flippant, but your dog story reminded me of the rock group Three Dog Night.  I wondered what that name was about and one day heard it explained. In super cold environments like Eskimos in Alaska, the number of dogs you needed to help you stay warm at night went like that. It could be as cold as a Six Dog Night.  

I have a feeling that she won't win.   Tables might even be turned on her for gross negligence.   

I'm sorry, I would not be sending my child to sleep alone. We'd all make our own "dog pile" and snuggle to stay warm.   I think that is where the lawsuit falls apart.  That the poor kid was alone in his bed. 

I was thinking about this last night.... while it's incredibly sad and horrific what happened to their, otherwise healthy son, I highly doubt they will have much to stand on in court. And 100 million... is that what they feel it's worth? It was cold.... no power, but did they not have blankets? A vehicle to go sit in to warm up in ? We did that too when we needed to charge phones. I wonder what the autopsy will reveal. I cannot imagine what that family is going thru. There is a small family that lives around the corner from us, in a shack... I can't even call it a house, because it's literally a shack, they are what people call Trashy... they have garbage and JUNK everywhere,  strewn about their 8 acres, it's a total disgrace and honestly quite embarrassing when we people come to our house they have to drive by that first... they don't clean, they just throw trash outside in the yard ... numerous cats and dogs... its a disgrace.  They have kids that live there.. on the north side of of their shack, it's covered up with a several pieces of large plywood and an area rug. When this weather happened,  I worried about their kids ... but they were fine .. somehow.. I know for a fact they've been without power several times because they have hit us up for water. It's looks like the child who passed away lived in a single wide trailer, I know these trailer houses are not well insulated,  especially the older ones.. ours is a newer model and has upgraded insulation, it holds up pretty well...but we could still see our breath in it on the coldest nights. 

That's a very good point. I didn't catch that he was sent to sleep alone. Wow.... how sad..... I don't understand people. This weather event was a freak incident we were all caught with our britches down, that's for sure. We knew it was going to be cold, freezing actually,  I'll be honest,  I never once thought of being without power thru it! We prepped for cold freezing weather, but wasn't prepared for doing it without electricity to keep us warm... that's on us...we learned a huge lesson from it. Obviously the entire state was not prepared for this. There is a lot of finger pointing going on, I get it... some people need someone to blame instead of being self accountable and learning to be self sufficient. Just look at all the hoopla of Ted Cruz going to Cancun while this was happening... I didn't care, he wasn't out here working on our place or going and getting us fuel and propan,  checking on eldery neighbors, pulling cars out of ditches that slid off the ice .... grumbling over cruz going to Cancun was a waste of time and breath, IMO. Was it a stupid move on his part.. yep... but whatever. 

They aren't responsible for the weather, thank God for that. But they are responsible for making sure our resources are maintained and prepared for things like this. I haven't had much time to read all the information but I've heard and read bits and pieces that they were warned that the equipment needed to be winterized, prepared etc etc and apparently it fell on deaf ears. Not sure of all the details though. Different people say different things. Someone somewhere dropped the ball, I'm sure. Then again...this weather event was unprecedented.. who knows

He was NOT alone ......

"The Pineda family were without electricity and heat for two days as temperatures dropped to -12C (10F) where they lived, according to the lawsuit.

I know this is a very sad thing that has happened... but they waited till mid afternoon to check on him?? That sounds a bit weird. Yes he was known to sleep in, but with this weather you'd think they'd at least check in on him every couple of hours... 

So, did his brother sleep in also?? Not trying to blame anyone, but I'm not sure that this is more than just an unfortunate incident.... 

True....they are not in charge of the weather .... but I see many lawsuits coming in the future. ERDOT was advised OVER ten years ago to upgrade their systems for just this problem (cold weather). Additionally, the astronomical electric bills ???? What the H*LL ?????? 

Oh yeah, there will be more lawsuits.. this won't be swept under the rug. As far as electric bills go... and please correct me if I've misunderstood,  but the way I understand it is that the outrageous bills are on variable plans .... i.e. the more you use, the less you're charged type thing KWH and greatly depends on who you're with.. we are with TXU and have a fixed rate...I just received my bill from last month so I'm not sure what my next one will be, but I'll be waiting for it, because 10 days of no usage should be pretty significant. I could be totally wrong with my idea above on high electric bills.. I overheard a few people saying they were on an autopay plan with their electric company and their bank account was hit hard by this electric bill... buuuuut.. depending on the billing cycle,  doesn't it seem kind of fast to be being billed for this already? None of this really adds up to me. My bill I just received isn't reflected on what we just went thru, that will be on my next one. Again,  I'm not sure if that is how any of that works...so.. grain of salt here... 

So the 3 year old survived but the 11 year old did not. Hmm.. is it just me or is that a little weird?

There are many aspects of this that is just plain disturbing man. I just feel sad that there is still something that happens like this because there are just some problematic aspects of the government and how they run their systems. There are just some aspects of their activities that just do not make sense because there are just people who are not able to fix that kind of thing. It is rough to see but there are just some possibilities that come out from there and there should be something done. It is rough to see their freakin senator is going away to cancun or something and not giving a care to the place he is supposed to be leading and helping the people in need.

No the Government is not resoponsible or should it be for anything you said. 

it's not just you. 

No way in He!! that kid just layed there and froze to death. 

"sleeping in" is not sleeping until 2:30...when it's apparently very cold...missing 2 meals.  That was a clear sign that something was wrong.  Was it the cold?...sure seems odd for a "healthy" kid to sleep like that and not survive temps a 3 year old apparently did.   I don't know...but this sure doesn't add up for me.

An autopsy should reveal the cause of death. I don't watch the news or follow much anymore... so I'm not sure what is going on with this story, if anything. 

Who is responsible for maintaining these resources then? Making sure the funds are available for needed repairs and upgrades and making sure there is a backup plan when needed? Those are the people that need to be looked at. I did hear on the radio yesterday that Texas was approximately 4 minutes away from a complete disaster on the power grid. Now that may not be entirely accurate because I was outside cleaning stalls and had the radio on and heard just bits and pieces of that so .... for those of us without power for 10 days it WAS a complete disaster, I can assure you that. We are STILL helping with clean ups , water damages and our stores are still not restocked with basics ... i.e. milk, bread .... we can live without either one ... I went yesterday to try to find milk for my mil ... shelves are bare still. I can't even find coffee creamer right now. I stopped at TSC yesterday and I'm friends with the cashier, she said people are returning generators... unused .. unopened.. she said several people bought more than 1 and are now returning the others ... I'd love to think that people bought more than 1 to help a neighbor or a family....   

The approxiamate four minute quote is accurate. This is being reported via various sources.

Now the why is the current question. And who to hold accountable for letting this situation unfold into the diaster it was, is also applicable!

"making sure there is a backup plan when needed"

Ok...Some may not like my answer to this...but it is up to ME/US to be sure we have a back up plan when needed.  

Perhaps because I was a Girl Scout and our motto is "Be Prepared"...or perhaps because I have lived in more rural areas most of my life...whatever the reason...I make sure I have some redundancy on the things we Need.

We re- piped our well to have access to both City water and Well water as one or the other may go out. (and they have) We also have a pond for potential emergency water hauling and a submersible pump.

Our well house is very well insulated as we did that a few years ago before a cold snap. And we can run a heat lamp on the generator. Exterior fucets are frost free

We have 2 portable generators and fuel on hand and when this storm was predicted we filled extra cans days ahead.

We spent many hours in the summer cutting, splitting, stacking wood and years ago installed a wood stove for supplemental heat.  

We keep a supply of bottled water and instant meals (Freeze dried food packages)

It just isn't unheard of for power to be out for days with a winter/ice storm or other severe weather. 

While I know this was some seriously crazy unheard of weather for some areas of Texas...those same areas get hurricanes etc that can and have knocked out power for long periods.  And I know not everyone can make these sort of preparations...but some folks did nothing to prepare themselves for the possibility of loss of power etc. 

 And I hate that they went through all of the challenges of that...but now the answer shouldn't be or shouldn't ONLY be looking at the utility companies etc for answers...it should also be a wake up call for some folks to make some changes and preparation to look out for themselves and their neighbors if they can.

1. You did the right thing

2. The Government is not your Momma, take care of you dayum self. 

3. Jeffery Epstien did not kill himself. 

I totally agree Trailgirl and we are definitely getting more prepared after this. I will tell you, us out here in the rural parts faired way better than those in the bigger cities.. we had several things on hand, water... food, propane and extra cans of fuel, kerosene lamps... now that I can breathe, I have made a list of things we have to get to be better prepared.  For us out here we usually go on a big shopping spree once a month and buy enough food, water etc etc to last several weeks because we don't live just up the street from a grocery store. We definitely became complacent, I'll be the first to admit that. In a perfect world people would know how to take care of themselves and their families and neighbors ... its just not that way anymore. I can't tell you how many times I heard people say "we can put a man on the moon with tinfoil and cardboard, but we can't keep the power on for our people, this is 2021"...  in fact my husband posted some information on a local Facebook page the information he got from his cousin, THE ONCOR LINEMAN, that people needed to shut off their heaters, and unplug everything they can while they were trying to get us power back.. they'd get us hot and it was overloading the breaker and knocking it out immediately because everything was starting up at once... he got jumped on by several people that this was unacceptable because this is 2021 and yada yada yada... what those people didn't understand was that our equipment out here hasn't been updated in several years..... there was a boom of folks moving out here over the last few years and building and they never updated the resources for the power equipment.. it was/is VERY OVERLOADED.  I brought that up to the mayor and the town busybody so it will be discussed in the next townhall meeting... ONCOR is responsible for upgrading us around here and was also responsible for contracting the tree trimming company that failed to do their job and make sure all power lines had been cleared from trees... again... someone dropped the ball big time on us too...  its in our best interest to prepare our homes and our supplies though and that's exactly what we are doing... 

The American people has gotton soft, just to dependent on the Goverment and others to take care of themselves.. if we did go into a Civil War lots of folks will be up a creek without a paddle.. Got to learn to take care of themselves and their familys. All ways be perpared for the worst. Thats how I look at it.

Do you live in Texas in the areas that were mostly impacted? Where you without power? I'm just curious... not being ugly, I just want to know if you were directly affected by this? Some people think they are prepared well but until you're actually going thru it, you suddenly realize you aren't as prepared as you should be or could be. Not everyone can afford a $800 generator or to stock pile fuel and propane and months worth of food at a time... not everyone lives on land that has tanks of water, or wells, some people live in small apartments with very little room to store extra water and supplies... not everyone can fill their deep freezers full of meat. It's just reality. We were prepared in a sense that we had insulated our pipes well so we didn't have busting pipes we insulated under our home as well to protect the pipes... we had ICE not snow... things were sealed shut... I couldn't even open the back of our horse trailer because it was literally sealed shut with ice. It was like nothing we had ever seen before out here. So our town was hit hard.... without power but the town over had sporadic power ..  we were told we would be having rolling blackouts for 45 minutes at a time that turned into 5 more days without ANY power. 

First of all, proving that he actually died from hypothermia, with certainty, is a tall order.  
1.) Everyone's body temperature falls when they die, unless the ambient temperature is very high.  I'm sure they have no documentation of his core temperature before he succumbed.  
2.) The actual usual cause of death in hypothermia is an arrhythmia like V-fib, or Asystole.  Unless he was on a monitor before dying, an arrhythmia can't be documented.  Everyone is in asystole after death. 
3.) An autopsy might reveal some findings that are consistent with hypothermia, such as findings in the lungs.  Only about 50% of the time is an actual cause of death (in cases of sudden unexplained death in kids) actually identified. The two commonest causes are cardiac arrhythmia (eg congenital or hereditary) or seizures.  

Citing hypothermia as the cause of death seems plausible, but in a court case looking at liability, that's going to be a tall order, knowing that sudden cardiac death or seizure will need to be ruled out.  That's impossible to determine without any known prior history after the child has died.  It's particularly questionable when the 3 year old sibling didn't suffer from hypothermia that we are aware of.  

They might settle this out of court but they won't get millions, because the defense can present an awfully good case, from what I can tell. 

I hate to keep harping on this, but much worse HAS happened here in Texas. The winter of '83-84 was much harsher. In Alice, Texas (Jim Wells county) it was at or below 11 degrees for 11 days. The Corpus Christi bay froze over, stock tanks froze over so thick my husband had to use a backhoe to break ice for cattle and deer. It was an ice storm, no snow. The ice was several inches thick, sometime 6+ inches thick, power lines and trees snapping all over the place. I was 20 years old and I remember breaking ice for the horses, feeding hay all day, and watering, too. We never lost our water pressure nor was the water turned off. Our electricity flickered, but never went out. Some people did lose power but not for long. The roads were iced over. Back then you only went out to eat occasionally so every one had food. There wasn't any panic buying after the freeze was over like has happened here this time.  Also, when the forecast said we were gonna freeze and it was going to be for more than a day, people were proactive and insulated their pipes and got extra supplies before the freeze hit. 
I don't know why the power companies weren't better prepared. My dad has some theories and I kinda agree with him on them. But a lot of people just didn't heed the warnings, either. I did see people getting pet food, pet beds and hay and feed for their animals, and the grocery stores were pretty busy, too. But the hardware stores looked the same as usual. 
There is plenty of blame to go around, we should have been better prepared, the power plants should have been better prepared, they had been warned and ignored the warning, and the refineries and water plants failed too. There are a lot of f questions that need to be answered. 

When I pay my electric bill every month, and if you are 1 day late, you get a $16-22 penalty on your next bill along with a lovely disconnect letter .. yes I've paid late before on an oversight... I look at the laundry list of FEES that we are being nickel and dimed to death.. I'd like to think all those extra fees are going toward maintenance, making sure our power is being looked after, whatever needs to be done is getting done... is that too much to ask from the electric providers??  Just a few random pics from around our area..