By Jonathan Stempel
Feb 4 (Reuters) – PacifiCorp on Wednesday urged an Oregon appeals court to undo rulings that expose the Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility to $52 billion of potential liabilities from wildfires.
The Portland, Oregon-based utility has denied claims by thousands of people in the state who accused it of causing wildfires by negligently failing to shut off power lines during a Labor Day weekend windstorm in 2020.
PacifiCorp said a trial judge erred by letting victims of four wildfires, each more than 100 miles (161 km) from each other, sue in a single class action, including for damage sparked by a fifth wildfire blamed on lightning.
The utility also said the judge shouldn’t have let jurors award damages for “noneconomic” losses, such as emotional distress, as well as for property losses.
“This was a tragedy,” Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for PacifiCorp, told a three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals, referring to the wildfires. “The question is how to do we resolve these cases in an efficient manner? This was not the way to do it.”
Nicholas Rosinia, a lawyer for fire victims, countered that PacifiCorp’s wrongful conduct affected all class members, with the “common issue” being negligence in letting electricity continue to flow. He added that Oregon law supported awarding noneconomic damages.
Victims “fled through fires and flames not knowing if they would live or die,” Rosinia said. “These are the kinds of damages and the harms that are sufficiently serious.”
TRIALS SLATED TO CONTINUE INTO 2028
So far, 119 plaintiffs have obtained wildfire awards averaging about $5 million each.
Jurors have found PacifiCorp liable in a series of “mini-trials” that began in January 2024. Another 1,400 fire victims may go to trial by early 2028 under an accelerated schedule. PacifiCorp has said it may have to curtail operations if wildfire losses grow too high.
The three-judge appeals court panel questioned whether the trial judge acted correctly in instructing jurors they could assume that evidence regarding class representatives applied to all class members.
“There are these four separate groups,” Judge Kristina Hellman told Rosinia. “Don’t you, as the plaintiffs, have to prove for each of these fires causation and liability?”
The Salem, Oregon-based panel did not say when it will rule.
PACIFICORP FACES OTHER WILDFIRE LITIGATION
Berkshire bought PacifiCorp for $5.1 billion in 2006.
The utility’s immediate parent is Berkshire Hathaway Energy, whose former chief Greg Abel succeeded Warren Buffett as Berkshire’s chief executive on January 1. Buffett remains chairman of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate.
PacifiCorp agreed through November to pay about $1.7 billion to resolve close to 4,200 wildfire claims, including from dozens of wineries and vineyards.
Through September 30, PacifiCorp set aside $2.85 billion for litigation over wildfires that burned more than 2,000 structures and 500,000 acres in Oregon and northern California.
The U.S. government and Oregon are also suing PacifiCorp for wildfire damage to natural resources.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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