I am humbled. Truly humbled. There is no other time in my career as an attorney (or truly in my life) that I can say I’ve ever felt quite this way. And here is why…Last week in Texas, we faced a storm much like an ice storm I remembered from my childhood, but in this storm, I was an adult, a mom with an (almost) grown daughter in Austin without water (who thankfully had power), while living in Dallas without power myself. That being said, no matter how cold it was or how much I worried about my mom, my aunt, uncle, and cousins…we were the lucky ones…We had a gas fireplace, a large car (with someone able to drive it – not me, because I’m a Texan, and we have no clue how to drive in this mess), and food we could eat.
That being said, I have spent time out in the country with backroads and little insulation; I have spent time with people in places that had so much less, and I knew there were moms, like me, with flooded pipes and no electricity out there trying to keep their babies warm. I also knew there were people my parents age (in their 80’s) with no heat, unable to drive or to walk somewhere warm, with little or no food or water…And I felt sick.
Between the calls to my family, dropping off what food we could and attempting many times to get water to my daughter in Austin, I knew I needed to do something more…Not for us, again, we were luckier than so many, but for all the people out there that were less fortunate. I knew this was the straw that broke the camel’s back– I mean all of this on top of Covid worries, it was all just too much.
Then I read about a little boy who died of hypothermia, about a family whose roof caved in and had nowhere to go, and I got to work. I got together with A Case for Women to get the word out to families that we could help. I started talking to anyone that called in response to our message. I listened, I heard their stories, and I started meeting with them. In the past week I have talked to people who were strangers, who now are becoming friends, all over my great state of Texas. We have laughed, and we definitely have cried, and I have begun taking steps to help some families take action and start fixing what happened here in Texas and to say NEVER AGAIN.
I knew I could not bring back loved ones people lost, and I still know I can’t fill the hole that has been left in their lives and hearts, but I do have the ability to take a stand against those that hurt them. So, I paired up with other attorneys (firms with much bigger financial resources) to go after those responsible for these losses.
If you or someone you know lost a love one due to this February 2021 horrific winter storm and want to talk to me about what taking legal action looks like, please contact me. I promise, I will do my best to help. Together we can and will go up against these companies that knew this could happen but did nothing to stop it. I lived it with you. I am listening AND I will if possible.
Email me at Brooke@brookefcohenlaw.com to tell me your story.
Let’s help Texas heal together.
Brooke F. Cohen Law, PLLC
