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TribBlog: Supreme Court Won't Review Bonfire Ruling

The Texas Supreme Court today freed Texas A&M University from further liability in the decade-old bonfire case.

The Texas Supreme Court today freed Texas A&M University from further liability in the decade-old bonfire case, effectively opening the door for victims’ families to take companies involved in the bonfire’s construction to trial.

Texas A&M already settled with the families of the bonfire victims, 12 of whom died and 27 of whom were injured when the structure collapsed on Nov. 18, 1999.

But Zachry Construction Corp. and Scott-Macon, Ltd., who helped build the bonfire and are facing litigation from victims’ families, asked a trial court to let them bring in the university as a “responsible third party.” The trial court agreed, but the court of appeals dismissed all claims against the university.

Today, the Supreme Court said it wouldn’t review the appellate decision, effectively ending the bonfire case for the university.

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Courts Criminal justice Texas A&M University-College Station Texas Supreme Court