Berkshire utility must pay $62M to Oregon homeowners for 2020 wildfires

Seeking Alpha (January 23, 2024) – PacifiCorp, an electric utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B), was ordered by an Oregon jury to pay at least $62M to nine survivors of the Labor Day 2020 wildfires that swept through the state.

The jury in Portland, where PacifiCorp is based, awarded the homeowners nearly $6.3M in compensation for the property damage and other economic losses and $56M for emotional distress, pain and suffering.

The jury verdict was the second awarding damages over the fires that killed nine people and caused nearly $1.9B in property damage and other harms, according to a state estimate.

PacifiCorp could face billions of dollars in liability to the thousands of homeowners affected by the blazes; ~5K homeowners and business owners filed a class action against the company in 2020. Read More Here.