A state appeals court has ruled that Texas A&M University administrators are not immune from lawsuits filed in state courts after the deadly collapse of a tower of logs under construction for a bonfire in 1999, the Associated Press reported. Twelve people died and 27 were injured when the 59-foot-high stack of logs fell apart.

University officials had argued that they were protected under a state constitutional provision of sovereign immunity, which prohibits government agencies and officials from being sued. But in a decision issued on Wednesday, the 10th Court of Appeals, in Waco, upheld a lower court’s ruling that allowed the administrators to remain as defendants because they were being sued as individuals and not in their official capacities.

University officials declined to comment, the AP reported. The Texas attorney general’s office, which is representing the university, has made no decision on whether it will appeal the ruling, a spokesman said.

The 10th Court of Appeals has previously held that the university itself is immune from litigation in state courts. That issue is now before the Texas Supreme Court.

Families of those killed or injured had also filed suits in federal court. But that litigation ended last fall after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider a lower court’s ruling that university officials could not be held responsible under federal law for the deaths and injuries. —Charles Huckabee