AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has sued the utility company whose downed power lines sparked the largest wildfire in state history, a deadly blaze that destroyed homes and livestock and charred miles of landscape, causing more than $1 billion in damage.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday by state Attorney General Ken Paxton accuses Southwestern Public Service Company, which operates in Texas as Xcel Energy, of negligence in its upkeep of aging utility poles. It seeks to recover economic damages incurred by the state and prevent the company from passing those costs on to customers.
The Smokehouse Creek fire killed three people in 2024, burning through more than 1,500 square miles (3,885 square kilometers) in Texas before spilling into neighboring Oklahoma. Texas A&M Forest Service investigators determined it was ignited when a decayed utility pole snapped and fell, dropping Xcel power lines onto dry grass.
The Minnesota-based company has acknowledged its equipment appeared to have sparked the wildfire. But the lawsuit claims the company had neglected to replace aging utility poles in the windswept Panhandle, some of which were nearly 100 years old and more than twice their typical lifespan of 40 years.
“Xcel’s blatant negligence killed three Texans and caused unfathomable destruction in the Texas Panhandle,” Paxton said. “The company made false representations about its safety commitments and ignored warnings that its aging infrastructure needed immediate repair and to be updated.”
The fatalities related to the fire included a woman who was overtaken by flames after getting out of her truck, and another woman whose remains were found in her burned home. A fire chief in one of the hardest hit towns died while responding to a house fire.
The company disputed Paxton's claims of negligence and noted it had already accepted responsibility for equipment failure. Xcel said it has already paid out more than $361 million to settle 212 of 254 claims.
“When the Attorney General’s office approached us earlier this year requesting information, we worked with them in good faith to try and find a consensus solution,” Xcel said in a statement. "They chose to file litigation instead. We will review this litigation and vigorously defend ourselves against these allegations.”
FILE - Land charred by the Smokehouse Creek fire is seen, Feb. 29, 2024, in Canadian, Texas. (AP Photo/David Erickson, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A doctor who pleaded guilty in a scheme to supply ketamine to actor Matthew Perry before his overdose death was sentenced Tuesday to 8 months of home confinement.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included 3 years of supervised release to 55-year-old Dr. Mark Chavez in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
Chavez acquired ketamine and gave it to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison earlier this month for selling ketamine to Perry in the months leading up to his death.
Chavez’s attorneys emphasized the difference between the two doctors and said that Chavez “accepted responsibility early” by cooperating with investigators and voluntarily giving up his medical license ahead of his detention hearing.
“These are real steps that someone takes toward accountability,” attorney Matthew Binninger said.
He called the sentence a “fair and just outcome” for the case.
Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression. But when his regular doctor wouldn’t provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia.
Plasencia admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted Chavez that Perry was a “moron” who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.
Chavez admitted to obtaining the ketamine from a wholesale distributor on false pretenses and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He has not been in custody.
Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest TV stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit.
Chavez is the second person to be sentenced of the five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death at age 54 in 2023.
Perry was found dead by his assistant on Oct. 28. The medical examiner ruled ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.
Seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him, about a month before his death Perry found Plasencia, who in turn asked Chavez to obtain the drug for him.
He met with Plasencia between San Diego and Los Angeles to hand off ketamine he got using fraudulent prescriptions. In all, he admitted to supplying 22 5-milliliter vials of ketamine and nine ketamine lozenges.
Chavez will also be expected to do 300 hours of community service.
The other three defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be sentenced at their own hearings in the coming months. Garnett has said she would seek to make sure all the sentences made sense in relation to one another.
AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed reporting.
FILE - Dr. Mark Chavez, a physician from San Diego, who is charged in connection with Matthew Perry's fatal overdose, is seen after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine in Los Angeles on Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - Actor Matthew Perry participates in the BUILD Speaker Series to discuss the mini-series "The Kennedys After Camelot" in New York, March 30, 2017. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
