Oregon utility must pay $85 million to homeowners for 2020 fires damage

Axios (January 23,2024) – A jury in Portland, Oregon, determined Tuesday that PacifiCorp, an electric utility owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, should pay $62 million plus other costs to nine survivors of the Labor Day 2020 wildfires that swept the state.

The big picture: A PacifiCorp spokesperson said the utility intended to appeal the decision in the first trial that counsel for the plaintiffs noted in an email was “exclusively on individuals’ damages” after a historic class action verdict last year that established the utility was liable over the deadly fires.

It is the second jury verdict awarding damages over the “mega fires” that killed nine people. PacifiCorp could face billions of dollars in liability to the thousands of homeowners affected by the blazes that ravaged the state on Sept. 7 and 8 of that year.
By the numbers: The verdict consisted of more than $6 million in economic and $56 million in non-economic damages.

This translates to an award of more than $85 million after the doubling of economic damages and the addition of punitive damages of 25% that are automatically applied given the jury’s verdict in the first phase of the case, per a statement for representatives for the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

What they’re saying: Cody Berne, lead trial attorney for Stoll Berne, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case, in an emailed statement paid tribute to those who testified in the case — including a 101-year-old World War II veteran and a man who leapt into the river beside their property and hid for hours while the fire consumed their hand-built home.

“This trial was about these brave people,” Berne said. “It was also about a corporation and its owners at Berkshire Hathaway who refuse to take any accountability. We thank the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable.” Read More here.