More utilities across the West are facing the prospect of significant liability costs as climate change and drought increase risks.
A jury in Oregon has ordered PacifiCorp to pay more than $42 million to 10 victims of devastating wildfires on Labor Day 2020 — the latest verdict in litigation that is expected to see the electric utility on the hook for billions in damages. Last June, a jury found PacifiCorp liable for negligently failing to cut power to its 600,000 customers despite warnings from top fire officials. Tuesday's decision was the third verdict applying last year's ruling to a specific set of plaintiffs.
An Oregon state jury on Tuesday ordered Berkshire Hathaway's PacifiCorp to pay at least $29.2 million to nine homeowners and a summer camp whose properties were damaged by 2020 wildfires they claim were sparked when the Oregon utility failed to shut off its power lines during high winds. The verdict came in a trial that kicked off on Feb. 27 in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, where PacifiCorp is based. The trial, which Reuters viewed via the Courtroom View Network, was the second of at least three scheduled this year to serve as test cases to determine how much PacifiCorp owes Oregon residents and business owners, whose homes and properties were ravaged by a series of fires that torched parts of the state over Labor Day weekend in 2020, causing nearly $1.9 billion in property damage and other harms, according to a state estimate.