Resident criticizes city’s “sovereign immunity” stance in response to water damage

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

An 80-year-old Copperas Cove woman brought her concerns directly to the Copperas Cove city council on Tuesday evening, after a city water pipe burst on Sept. 12 and flooded her residence on Carlton Street as well as another home for more than four hours.

Robbie Marion came before the Copperas Cove city council, asking for answers from the city.

Her homeowner’s insurance denied her claim, as the issue occurred off her property.

Marion told the council during the citizens’ forum portion of the meeting that she has already had a face-to-face discussion with City Manager Ryan Haverlah about the flooding issue. After that discussion, she came away with the understanding that the city wasn’t accepting any liability for the thousands of dollars’ in damage done to her home due to “sovereign immunity.”

On Tuesday, she asked that the city provide her with a denial letter that the city would not cover the damage done to her property.

Luis Hernandez with DynaClean Professional Servies out of Temple, addressed the council on Tuesday. DynaClean is a company that helps provide restoration and cleanup services to homeowners like Marion.

He said that Marion called them about her house being flooded by a broken pipe from the city and that water was continuing to pour in. He asked her to call them back after the leak was stopped, and said it was close to midnight when she called them back.

“At that point in time, we decided that we would just go ahead and come out in the morning,” he said. In the morning, the damage was considered “a category three loss.”

“That’s the same as when you have sewage water coming out in front of the ground. It’s not good. It’s dangerous. It’s risky for any person, especially an elderly person, such as Robbie and younger children.”

He said another individual’s home on that street was flooded as well, and they responded to her because she couldn’t find anyone to respond without collecting a deposit.

“But we decided as a company we didn’t want to see their homes to continue to deteriorate. Within 48 hours, they can have secondary damage that can get out of control, with a health risk to the individuals living in the damage.”

He said he was there to support her and help the council understand what a serious issue is when you have a pipe break and that water is going to end up in other people’s homes.

For four-and-one-half hours, she waited until the water was turned off.

“If you have any questions reach out to us, but it’s a very dangerous situation, health risks, as well as damage to property,” said Hernandez.

Marion said that the city manager told her the city is “immune” due to sovereign immunity, sometimes called “qualified immunity”, is something that isn’t new and isn’t something specific to Copperas Cove alone.

According to Texas statutes, municipalities are exempt from liability in some instances, such as “damages arising from its proprietary functions, which are those functions that a municipality may, in its discretion, perform in the interest of the inhabitants of the municipality.”

One of those is the operation and maintenance of a public utility.

Kevin Keller, the city's Director of Public Relations, stated on Friday that Marion was contacted by the City's insurance provider, TML-IRP, on Sept. 14 and verbally advised of the denial.

"Additionally, per TML-IRP a denial letter was also mailed on Sept. 20th. Due to claims of not receiving any contact from TML-IRP, a second denial letter was mailed on Oct. 5th," Keller added.

This particular incident in September with waterlines hasn’t been an isolated issue in Copperas Cove.

Since February 2022, there have been at least eight waterline breaks, waterline leaks, or water main breaks in the City of Copperas Cove’s water infrastructure.

These include reported breaks or leaks on Feb. 7 (Morse Valley), March 14, (Wolfe Road and North Drive), March 23, June 27, July 1, July 20, Aug. 5, Sept. 8, and Sept. 12, on F.M. 116, the date of the water line break that flooded onto Carlton Street.