A million-dollar class action lawsuit against the City of Livingston, Livingston Municipal Electric System, and Sam Rayburn Municipal Power Agency was recently filed by RecoveryX Livingston LLC for Assignees of Citizens of Livingston for Fair and Equitable Relief and Residents of the City of Livingston.
The lawsuit alleges that the city has a monopoly on electric service within the City of Livingston, that the city’s electric rate creates a private nuisance, and creates unjust enrichment of the City of Livingston.
“The city’s position is that these claims are baseless and that the company that is bringing this suit has no standing. This lawsuit is a continuation of an unsuccessful claim brought before the Public Utility Commission of Texas by an organization called ‘Citizens of Livingston for Fair and Equitable Rates,’” city officials said.
“A petition was circulated by the ‘Citizens of Livingston for Fair and Equitable Rates,’ and purportedly the individuals who signed that petition have now assigned their claim to ‘RecoveryX Livingston,’ allowing RecoveryX to bring this lawsuit against the city,” city officials said.
However, the city has been informed by some of the people who signed the petition that they have not assigned any claim that they may have to RecoveryX, which could possibly prove that RecoveryX has no standing to bring the lawsuit.
RecoveryX Livingston LLC is owned by Simpson Holdings Inc., with Erik M. Simpson as its owner. Additionally, Simpson Holdings Inc. is manager of Citizens of Livingston for Fair and Equitable Relief LLC.
“This is not me or Citizens of Livingston for Fair and Equitable Rates, but I’m not surprised that this is happening,” Joshua Grant said.
“I still would really like for the city to come to the table to discuss this, but with this pending lawsuit, I don’t know if that’s possible,” Grant said.
Upon filing, the case was assigned to the 258th Judicial District and 258th District Judge Travis E. Kitchens Jr. recused himself. The Honorable Robert H. Trapp, Presiding Judge of the Second Administrative Judicial Region of Texas, appointed Retired 272nd District Judge John M. Delaney to hear the case. No court dates had been set as of press time Tuesday.
