Trustees weigh joining tax lawsuit

Will the Smithville school district join in a lawsuit to recapture tax revenues lost after the 2011 Bastrop County wildfires?

That’s the question school board members are wrestling with after a law firm asked trustees if the board was interested in joining a lawsuit filed in late spring against Asplundh Tree Expert Co., the firm contract- ed to maintain vegetation along Bluebonnet Electric power lines.

Attorney Joe Grady Tuck, of Tuck & Kizer Law Group PLL, is soliciting the school district to join in the suit.

In March, Bastrop County District Court visiting judge Terry Flenniken extended the statute of limitations for persons whose land evaluations diminished by 25 percent or more after the wildfires.

Kizer and Tuck then announced they were preparing to file a lawsuit against Asplundh and were seeking persons to join the suit.

Kizer and Tuck were also attorneys of record for numerous individuals in previous suits against Bluebonnet Electric and Asplundh after the 2011 Complex Fire that blazed through 34,000 acres in Bastrop County.

Those cases were settled last year, and the law firm received 35 percent of recovery monies.

According to the school board agenda, the law group’s compensation would be on a contingency-fee basis.

The board discussed the issue at length behind closed doors, but did not make a final decision at a meeting Monday night.

With two trustees absent, the board voted to table that decision another week until all school board members could be present to deliberate the matter.

Trustees called a special meeting for Monday to further discuss a decision to join the suit.