Texas A&M University at College Station now appears to be off the hook for liability stemming from the collapse of a huge stack of lumber in 1999 that killed 12 students and injured 27 others. The stack was intended to be burned in a ritual bonfire to mark the football season’s climactic game against the University of Texas at Austin. Its collapse has resulted in both federal and state litigation. Three years ago, a federal judge dismissed lawsuits against the university filed by the survivors of the tragedy and the families of its victims. In April that ruling was upheld by a federal appeals court. Last week, in a one-page decision, a Texas appellate court ruled that the university’s sovereign immunity precluded its being dragged into a lawsuit filed by the survivors and families against the Texas Aggie Bonfire Committee, the Zachry Construction Corporation, and other groups and people involved in organizing and erecting the bonfire stack. —Andrew Mytelka