Travis County District Judge Stephen Yelenosky agreed today with an argument from LCRA that it was protected by sovereign immunity rules, which limits suits against governmental authorities. As published in v115 of the HillCo Client Advisory, the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) filed suit for breach of contract against the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) seeking recovery of the amount due it under the contract, defined as the difference between the project cost of 90,000 acre-feet per year for 80 years and the total cost of acquiring the same amount of water from another source, or $1.23 billion.
In court, San Antonio Water System lawyer Jim George argued that LCRA was in breach of contract and never intended to follow through on the proposed water deal.
LCRA argued that it is protected by sovereign immunity meant to shield the public from the costs and consequences of improper actions by a government agency and deprives courts of the authority to hear a case at all. “The judge’s view of law in this case was that LCRA was right,” said Robert Cullick, a spokesman for the river authority.
San Antonio Water System CEO Robert Puente said he would recommend to the SAWS board that they appeal.