Presidio County
A former Redford resident’s lawsuit against Presidio County, alleging its 15 years of work on water drainage on her land resulted in a wall of water crashing through a detention pond and flooding her homestead, lost her appeal of a ruling that said the county was immune from being sued over the matter.
Barbara Baskin, a former archaeologist who owned a historic home outside of Redford, sued the county saying its actions led to the failure of a retention pond dam wall that burst in a heavy rain in March 2023 and came roaring to her home, forcing her to flee with her dog to higher ground. Even though the county had spent years performing what Baskin called purposely “negligent” work on the drainage system, normally it would have immunity against lawsuits like Baskin filed for damages, since state law has long protected government entities from lawsuits.
But In March 2024, Baskin’s attorney John Sopuch argued during a hearing that an exception under law to county immunity applied here—damages caused by employees driving motor-driven equipment—with the county’s use of backhoes, bulldozers and trucks in work that led to the dam break.
District Judge Roy Ferguson agreed with the county’s argument and said it lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case because the county was immune. The county, represented by its Texas Association of Counties attorney Denis Dennis, argued that there needed to be a direct “nexus” between the equipment and the actual damage. He said that too much time had passed between the allegations of faulty pond maintenance work and the flooding.
Baskin appealed to the 8th Court of Appeals in El Paso in November 2024.
The appeals court agreed with the county. Although it stated in its ruling that the county’s work caused the flooding, its actions still didn’t provide a direct “nexus” showing that there was a fairly immediate connection between the work and the flooding.
Not considered at all in the case were allegations by Baskin that Road and Bridge Director Ruben Carrasco purposely compromised the pond and the surrounding drainage features because of a personal grudge. Also not considered were Carrasco’s failure to respond to numerous directions from then County Judge Cinderela Guevara to fix the pond and adjoining drainage. Arguments were confined to the motor-driven-vehicle exception to immunity.
Baskin said she has since abandoned the home and moved to Alpine after spending thousands of dollars trying to shore up the flow of rainwater away from her home.