88R18820 SKB-F
By: Hunter H.C.R. No. 107
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Aransas County alleges that:
(1) Regional Pool Alliance is a distinct governmental
unit organized under the Interlocal Cooperation Act (Chapter 791,
Government Code), is engaged in the business of insurance by
providing risk pool insurance coverage to governmental entities,
and offered that coverage to Aransas County;
(2) Regional Pool Alliance promised its members
complete disaster recovery services, which included:
(A) filing insurance claims on behalf of its
members after a disaster;
(B) pursuing full payment of those claims;
(C) contracting directly with construction
contractors for the remediation, repair, and, if necessary,
reconstruction of damaged facilities; and
(D) ensuring satisfactory completion of
construction projects;
(3) Aransas County paid annual premiums, assessments,
fees, and surcharges to Regional Pool Alliance from 2012 through
2022 in exchange for comprehensive insurance coverage for its
property and, through Regional Pool Alliance, was named as an
insured in various contracts with insurers or insurance carriers
for property and casualty insurance to cover losses, including
losses due to storm damage caused by natural disasters, such as
hurricanes;
(4) after Regional Pool Alliance collected premiums
from Aransas County, it issued an insurance contract that contained
coverages, property values, and terms of insurance;
(5) in 2017, Aransas County owned property consisting
of approximately 43 buildings, mobile equipment, and other personal
property located in Aransas County, Texas;
(6) the insured actual value of Aransas County's
buildings and contents was $37,742,009.00 in the policy that
covered losses beyond actual value to the cost of replacement;
(7) at 10:00 p.m. on August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey
made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane about five miles east of the
city of Rockport in Aransas County with wind gusts measured at 152
miles per hour and made a second landfall in Aransas County three
hours later near the Copano Bay community of Holiday Beach;
(8) Aransas County experienced the highest storm surge
from Hurricane Harvey at 12.5 feet, and more than 15 inches of rain
fell in Aransas County in a single day;
(9) Hurricane Harvey is estimated to have caused $125
billion in damage to the Texas coast as one of the costliest
tropical cyclones in United States history with extreme wind damage
in Aransas County, Nueces County, Refugio County, and the eastern
part of San Patricio County, as it destroyed approximately 15,000
homes and damaged another 25,000 homes, with the most severe damage
in Aransas County;
(10) properties owned by Aransas County experienced
significant damage including:
(A) the complete destruction of the Aransas
County Courthouse and Aransas County Aquarium;
(B) devastating damage to Aransas County's
airport, which suffered the loss of almost all of its hangars; and
(C) severe damage to many other county buildings
and facilities;
(11) after Hurricane Harvey, Aransas County promptly
submitted its claim for damaged property to the insurers through
Regional Pool Alliance, which also submitted claims on behalf of
other entities that suffered damage and losses due to Hurricane
Harvey;
(12) Aransas County officials received information
from Regional Pool Alliance periodically, which led the officials
to believe Regional Pool Alliance was receiving the county's
proceeds from the insurance carriers and using the proceeds to
contract with construction contractors to rebuild Aransas County's
facilities damaged by Hurricane Harvey;
(13) in late 2021, contractors began complaining to
Aransas County that Regional Pool Alliance was not responsive and
was not paying bills for work performed on Aransas County's
property;
(14) Aransas County immediately reached out to
Regional Pool Alliance regarding these complaints, but Aransas
County's questions, including questions concerning when repairs
would be completed, how repairs would be paid for, and what
arrangements were being made with contractors, were not answered;
(15) by October 2022, a claims adjuster informed
Aransas County that Regional Pool Alliance had instructed the
claims adjuster not to provide any information or otherwise
communicate with Aransas County;
(16) in January 2023, in response to a direct question
from the county attorney's office of Aransas County, Regional Pool
Alliance informed Aransas County that there was no more money to
fund the repairs to Aransas County's facilities;
(17) Aransas County later learned that Regional Pool
Alliance submitted claims on all of the properties owned by various
governmental entities and damaged by Hurricane Harvey together and
received payments from the insurance carriers in large lump sums;
(18) Regional Pool Alliance made no effort to
segregate the funds received by project or even by governmental
entity, and funds paid by the insurance carriers for damages to the
Aransas County facilities were commingled with funds paid to
Regional Pool Alliance for damages to other governmental entities'
facilities along the Texas coast;
(19) now Regional Pool Alliance has run out of money to
reconstruct Aransas County's facilities and refuses to pay the full
value of Aransas County's claims;
(20) critical facilities in Aransas County remain
unfinished, and Aransas County faces a significant fiscal challenge
due to nonpayment of millions of dollars of insurance proceeds as a
result of Regional Pool Alliance's failure to provide the claims
services and disaster-recovery services it promised;
(21) additional Aransas County facilities, including
the courthouse annex, the county tax assessor-collector's office,
and the transfer station, were damaged by Hurricane Harvey but have
not been fully repaired, remediated, or replaced;
(22) the lack of fully operational county facilities
has hindered Aransas County's ability to provide governmental
services and facilities to people living in and visiting the
county;
(23) Regional Pool Alliance has been named as a
defendant in at least two lawsuits related to Hurricane Harvey and
has asserted that it is immune from suit as a distinct governmental
unit; and
(24) Aransas County seeks to adjudicate its claims
against Regional Pool Alliance arising from Regional Pool
Alliance's failures to carry out the services it promised to
Aransas County and to obtain recovery from Regional Pool Alliance
on behalf of Aransas County and its residents; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That
Aransas County is granted permission to sue Regional Pool Alliance,
and Regional Pool Alliance's governmental immunity to suit and from
liability is waived, with respect to any cause of action arising
from Regional Pool Alliance's conduct in connection with Aransas
County's losses from Hurricane Harvey, including a claim for:
(1) recovery under Chapter 134, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code;
(2) a violation of Chapter 541, Insurance Code;
(3) a violation of Chapter 542, Insurance Code;
(4) negligent undertaking;
(5) negligent misrepresentation;
(6) fraud;
(7) quantum meruit;
(8) unjust enrichment; or
(9) money had and received; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the suit authorized by this resolution shall
be brought in Aransas County; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That Kathleen Hicks, Director of Administration
for Regional Pool Alliance, be served process.