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PacifiCorp's financial toll from wildfires mounted on Tuesday when a Multnomah County jury hit it with a verdict adding up to at least $78.9 million in a trial involving nine victims of Labor Day 2020 fires in Oregon.
The verdict came in the second phase of a class-action suit against the Berkshire Hathaway Energy-owned utility. In the first phase last year, PacifiCorp was found grossly negligent in four wildfires and ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages totaling around $90 million.
That trial involved 17 named plaintiffs who charged PacifiCorp was ill-prepared for fire risk and allowed its equipment to spark fires after failing to preemptively shut off the power despite warnings of epic fire conditions.
The short trial this month was strictly to determine damages for the first nine of what could be hundreds if not thousands more victims.
"We are so proud of the strength and resilience of our clients, and thankful to the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable for what happened on Labor Day 2020 — something it will never do itself,” Nick Rosinia, who led the Edelson PC team that with Stoll Berne and Keller Rohrback LLP represented plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Two more similarly scaled phase-two trials are scheduled for early this year. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Steffan Alexander has ordered mediation between PacifiCorp and remaining class plaintiffs after those cases conclude.
Portland-based PacifiCorp, which operates under the Pacific Power brand in Oregon, earlier this month appealed the verdict in last year's phase-one trial. But it has also recently settled cases involving other 2020 wildfires.
"PacifiCorp has settled and will continue to settle all reasonable claims for actual damages under Oregon law," the company said in a statement after Tuesday's verdict. "Earlier this year, PacifiCorp filed an appeal on numerous issues stemming from the June 2023 court proceeding and intends to appeal this latest outcome because many of the fundamental problems with this case persist."
Edelson said the verdict amounted to $85 million based on $6 million in economic damages and $56 million in non-economic damages awarded by the jury, with economic damages doubled and a punitive damage multiplier of 25% applied "given the jury’s verdict in the first phase of the case."
A PacifiCorp spokesperson said the verdict would likely end up at $78.9 million "if the judge decides post-trial motions consistent with prior rulings with respect to double economic damages and offsets for insurance payments."
While the utility is continuing the fight in what is known as the "James case" in Multnomah County, it recently cleared two other wildfire claims off its decks.
PacifiCorp settled for $299 million with 463 individual plaintiffs who alleged utility negligence contributed to the Archie Creek Complex blaze and reached a $250 million settlement with 10 commercial timber companies and owners related to the same fire in Douglas County.
In securities filings before those settlements, the company said "amounts sought in … lawsuits, complaints and demands filed in Oregon and in certain demands made in California total nearly $8 billion, excluding any doubling or tripling of damages included in the complaints."