Jury finds PacifiCorp at fault for Santiam Canyon, Labor Day fires

A jury Monday found PacifiCorp liable for causing four of the devastating Labor Day wildfires in 2020 that burned a combined 2,500 properties and upended countless lives in the Santiam Canyon, Lincoln City area and southern Oregon.

The 12-person jury found PacifiCorp negligent on all major counts, including gross negligence, for causing the Santiam, Echo Mountain, 242 and South Obenchain fires. The seven-week class action trial against Oregon’s second-largest utility was held at Multnomah County Courthouse.

The jury found PacifiCorp caused harm and was negligent to an entire class in the Santiam Canyon, Lincoln City and southern Oregon areas. That means anyone whose home or property was burned in the fires in those areas, even if they were not part of the lawsuit, could potentially get financial relief in a second phase of the trial.

The 17 plaintiffs, whose homes or properties were burned in the fires, were awarded between $12,000 and $5 million apiece in economic and non-economic damages, totaling more than $70 million. PacifiCorp could be ordered to pay even more by the time the second phase is completed.

PacifiCorp, owned by multinational corporation Berkshire Hathaway, issued a statement saying the company plans to pursue appeals, "and we are confident we will prevail."

Throughout the trial, lawyers for the property owners argued PacifiCorp’s power lines ignited numerous wildfires that burned thousands of homes during an extreme high wind event Labor Day night of 2020. They said PacifiCorp was at fault for the destruction because the utility did not proactively shut down power — while other utilities did — and didn’t maintain vegetation around power lines, leading to the explosion of the fires.

Lawyers for the power company argued it wasn’t reasonable to expect the utility to plunge entire communities into darkness, using a power shutoff, based on the information they had at the time. They also argued that there was limited evidence its power lines caused the fires in question.

"While the Santiam Canyon will never be the same, I hope this verdict will help in the long term healing and recovery of what took many lifetimes to build," said Sam Drevo, who saw his and his mother's home burned to the ground and was one of the 17 primary plaintiffs in the case. "I was shocked by how little the company's top people claimed to remember, how they tried to pass the buck and how much evidence they admittedly destroyed after knowing their equipment started fires. They took zero responsibility."

Up next: A mini trial over punitive damages begins

Monday afternoon the jury returned to start hearing arguments on the question of punitive damages — basically a punishment meant to act as a future deterrent. It amounts to something of a mini-trial to determine whether PacifiCorp's actions were "reckless and outrageous" and showed a "conscious indifference to the health, safety and welfare" of others.

The jury could multiply the amount they determined the property owners should get by up to a 5-to-1 ratio.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that punitive damages were called for.

"Even after failing to protect Oregonians, burning thousands of homes and causing widespread panic and harm across the entire state — and permanently altering the lives of thousands — they still have not accepted any responsibility," plaintiffs’ attorney Nicholas Rosinia told the jury during opening arguments. "Tell them they must accept responsibility and send them the only message they will hear — and that is through their bank account."

PacifiCorp defense attorney Doug Dixon argued the utility has taken real action to prevent wildfires since 2020. It has improved its ability to mitigate wildfire and put "hundreds of thousands" of dollars into monitoring weather and hardening its grid, he said. And he noted that during another recent east wind storm — right around Labor Day 2022 — PacifiCorp did shut down power.

"These improvements show that PacifiCorp is consistently seeking to protect Oregonians," Dixon said, while noting that punitive damages were a narrow tool that shouldn't be used in this situation.

What about the class members?

Once the question of punitive damages is established, the trial will move into a different phase. Because the jury found PacifiCorp negligent to entire classes, a special proceeding will be set up that allows people impacted by the fires to claim damages. A website set up by the court shows maps of the areas that are included in the class here. Anyone that lives within the boundary and had wildfire damage is a member of the class and could claim damages.

It is not yet clear when the second phase of the trial will begin.

No report or evidence from state or federal fire investigators

The trial went forward despite the fact that federal and state fire investigators have either not completed or not made public a final investigation into the cause and spread of the fires.

That meant no evidence collected by fire investigators could be used at trial. All four fires remain officially "under investigation" by either the U.S. Forest Service or Oregon Department of Forestry.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Jury finds PacifiCorp at fault for Santiam Canyon, Labor Day fires