What’s next for 2020 Labor Day wildfire survivors seeking damages from PacifiCorp?
Oregon’s second-largest utility has shown little interest in paying damages to wildfire survivors following a jury's decision in June that found PacifiCorp at fault for four of the 2020 Labor Day fires, according to court filings.
This week, lawyers for those impacted by the wildfires filed a motion to begin “consolidated damages trials” this fall. That means people from the 2,500 properties burned in the Santiam, Echo Mountain, 242 and South Obenchain fires could come to court and prove why PacifiCorp should pay for their losses.
The utility disagreed, suggesting that no additional phase of the trial should move forward until the appeals process is worked out. PacifiCorp, owned by multinational corporation Berkshire Hathaway, issued a statement after the jury's verdict saying the company planned to pursue appeals.
“As we’ve previously stated, PacifiCorp disagrees with the jury’s decision in this case," PacifiCorp said in a statement to the Statesman Journal. "We have been consistent in our statements that we plan to appeal. Pacific Power has resolved and will continue to resolve reasonable claims.”
More: Jury finds PacifiCorp at fault for Santiam Canyon, Labor Day fires
The jury found PacifiCorp owes around $90 million in damages to 17 named plaintiffs after finding the utility’s power lines, actions and vegetation management caused or made worse the four fires Labor Day night of 2020. Those plaintiffs wouldn’t actually be paid until an appeals process wraps up.
The jury also found PacifiCorp could owe money to all owners of the 2,500 properties damaged in the fires, setting up the second phase of the trial.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said PacifiCorp’s proposal would delay resolution or payout for years to come, at a time when many are “still living in trailers or temporary housing, or have been displaced to other communities. Many are elderly, and some have died since the Labor Day 2020 fires. Those who survived continue to live with stress and trauma and may be going untreated.”
What are plaintiffs' lawyers proposing?
Lawyers for the plaintiffs suggested two methods for the second phase of the trial. The first is for the court to create a “special master process to PacifiCorp to efficiently determine economic and non-economic damages for all absent class members,” modeled after the fire victim trust in California’s deadly Camp Fire.
“The intent was to efficiently use the Phase I jury’s verdicts and findings to promptly resolve all Class Members’ damages in Phase II,” plaintiffs' lawyers wrote.
As an alternative — and what plaintiffs' lawyers are currently asking the court for — is a consolidated damages trial. In it, there would be five consolidated damages trials featuring approximately 15 class members apiece. Each “mini trial” would be no more than five days each.
How does PacifiCorp want to proceed?
PacifiCorp rejected both proposals, according to emails and court documents.
It rejected the idea of the “special master” in part because the proposal imposed a $3 million damages "floor," PacifiCorp council said in an email included in court documents.
“Though we are happy to consider proposals to conduct any Phase 2 proceedings more efficiently, tying Plaintiffs’ only proposal for streamlining these trials to a guaranteed damages award (regardless of the individual facts of a given claim) is a nonstarter.”
Instead, it suggested two things. First, it wants to “stay all Phase 2 trials until the completion of post-trial briefing and any appeal process that follows from the result of the Phase 1 verdict,” an email from PacifiCorp lawyers said.
If phase 2 did move forward, it suggested “first setting a tranche of bellwether trials,” that could mean a series of individual trials.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Steffan Alexander will rule on how the next phase of the trial moves foward in coming weeks.
PacifiCorp settles with insurance companies
In the court documents, PacifiCorp disclosed that it had settled claims with insurance companies that paid out damages for wildfire victims.
“Lead Counsel also learned during the meet and confer process that, remarkably, PacifiCorp has paid to settle the claims of the class members’ subrogating insurers arising from the four Labor Day 2020 fires in this case — at the same time it refuses to compensate any of the class members,” plaintiffs lawyers wrote.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. 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: What’s next for wildfire survivors seeking payout from PacifiCorp?
