A Berkshire Hathaway unit found liable by a jury for destruction caused by the 2020 Labour Day Fires in Oregon could face damages well beyond PacifiCorp’s net worth of $10.7 billion, a lawyer for the company told a jury.
Jurors in Portland state court awarded $3 million to more than $5 million to each of 17 individual homeowners Monday after concluding PacifiCorp was responsible for four of the 2020 wildfires across the state that intensified under hot, dry winds, consuming houses, businesses, schools, and scorching more than 1 million acres in southern, central and coastal Oregon.
The jurors are now considering whether to impose punitive damages, and if so, how much. Testimony on the issue is set to resume Tuesday.
The final tab could add up to more than 10 times the value of the company, Alison Plessman, a lawyer for PacifiCorp, told the jury. If the owners of about 2 500 properties each win an average of $4.5 million as part of the class-action case, that would add up to $11.25 billion, she said. Punitive damages of five times that amount to each of two occupants of a home would result in a 10-fold increase.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Tim DeJong, pointed out that PacifiCorp’s revenue last year was more than $5.6 billion.
PacifiCorp touts itself as the largest grid operator in the western US, serving 2 million customers in six states. Beyond the Portland case, the company faces another trial over a 2020 fire in a different location in Oregon, as well as litigation over a 2022 blaze near the California border that killed four people.
The company said it plans to appeal the Portland verdict and is “confident” it will prevail. Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B shares fell as much as 0.9% on Monday, closing down 0.5% at $333.60.
The trial marked the first class-action case against a major utility to go to a jury following a series of catastrophic fires on the US West Coast in recent years, which were touched off by historic droughts and searing heat exacerbated by climate change. The 2020 fires in Oregon were the most expensive disaster in the state’s history.
After less than two days of deliberations, the jury awarded more than $70 million in damages to the 17 plaintiffs, finding that the company’s conduct was negligent and reckless and created a public nuisance. A separate jury will later determine how much is owed to a broader class of property owners.
The plaintiffs had argued that PacifiCorp was aware of the risk of fire based on historically dry conditions, and National Weather Service warnings on September 5, 2020, of winds possibly exceeding 75 mph (120 kph).
Despite the warnings, and its equipment being the source of other recent fires, PacifiCorp left its power lines energized, lawyers for the victims argued. As predicted, the winds came in full force on Labour Day, causing “power lines to topple and ignite fires,” along with “devastation and destruction on a massive scale,” according to the lawsuit.
PacifiCorp had argued that victims’ attorneys didn’t present sufficient evidence to find it liable. Douglas J. Dixon, a lawyer for the company, told jurors at the outset of trial that the suit was brought with the benefit of hindsight and that it’s “not nearly so simple” to blame the utility amid the complexities of climate change.
PacifiCorp didn’t have a “crystal ball,” he said, and “you can’t sue climate change.” The company, he argued, has been a pioneer in developing plans to mitigate fire risks, and no one can precisely predict when a fire is going to start.
Proactively shutting off power for swaths of Oregon was rare, novel and controversial — especially at the time, Dixon said. Before Labour Day in 2020 it had never happened in Oregon, he added. “It is truly a measure of last resort,” due to the dangers of blanketing communities in darkness just when they need light and energy most, he said.
“Regardless of the outcome, a trial will never fully restore what was lost,” PacifiCorp said in a statement. “We are proud to have told the story of our incredible employees, who meet the call to service every day in support of our communities and customers and did so in the face of the preexisting, lightning-caused Beachie Creek fire that roared into the Santiam Canyon causing widespread damage that weekend.”
The case is James v. PacifiCorp, 20CV33885, Oregon Circuit Court, County of Multnomah (Portland).
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