CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Nicholas Rosinia delivering his opening statement
Portland, OR - An Oregon state court jury heard opening statements Tuesday in a class-action trial in which nine plaintiffs who suffered property damage in widespread wildfires over the 2020 Labor Day holiday seek at least $45 million in damages from electric utility PacifiCorp.
The trial follows an earlier jury verdict from June of last year, when Berkshire Hathaway-owned PacifiCorp was found liable for the blaze, allegedly due to failing to preemptively deactivate portions of their power grid ahead of a predicted major wind storm.
That proceeding, also webcast and recorded by CVN, then set the stage for subsequent trials to determine damages for the roughly 5,000 members of the plaintiff class, all of whom claim they suffered property damage in the fire. The verdict also included an award of $72 million to 17 class representatives, and the total damages for all class members - including potential punitive awards - could reach into the billions.
PacifiCorp, which disputes the estimated class size of 5,000 members citing that roughly 2,500 lots were damaged in the fire, has appealed the June verdict and maintains they took adequate protective steps ahead of the fire, arguing a mass shutdown like the plaintiff class says was necessary would have negatively impacted first responders and emergency facilities like hospitals.
Plaintiff attorney Nicholas Rosinia of Edelson PC asked jurors in his opening statement to award a minimum of $5 million to each of the nine class members but suggested those amounts could reach as high as $25 million per plaintiff in non-economic damages alone.
Rosinia painted a dramatic picture of the wildfires, showing images of the charred remains of class members' homes and describing “the deafening roar of the fire, like a freight train.”
He recounted for jurors how one class member made a risky 30-foot jump from a cliff into river to escape the fast-approaching flames, which Rosinia said another class member described as wall of fire reaching 20-feet high.
With PacifiCorp’s liability already established, defense attorney Per Ramfjord of Stoel Rives urged jurors to make their decisions based solely on fairly compensating the nine individual plaintiffs for their specific losses and harms.
“Punishing Pacific Power is not what this case is about,” he said, according to Courtroom View Network’s webcast of the trial.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Per Ramfjord delivering his opening statement
Ramfjord did not explicitly offer an alternative suggested amount of damages for each plaintiff, but he did float potential awards in the range of $750k - $1 million while stressing that each damages claim is unique, and this is “not a one-size-fits-all kind of case.”
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Steffan Alexander, who also presided over the trial last June, plans to hold additional “mini-trials” for small groups of class members in February and April. He has indicated he may then order the parties into mediation with the hopes the damages award reached so far could shape a broader resolution for the full roughly 5,000-member class.
The plaintiff class is represented by Edelson PC, Keller Rohrback LLP and Stoll Stoll Berne Lokting & Shlachter PC.
PacifiCorp is represented by Stoel Rives LLP and by Hueston Hennigan LLP.
The case is James, et al. v. PacifiCorp., case number 20CV33885 in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
