CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Cody Berne delivering his punitive phase closing argument
Portland, OR - An Oregon state court jury awarded $17 million in punitive damages on Wednesday in a class action trial over electric utility company PacifiCorp’s liability for widespread wildfires, bringing the total damages to at least $87 million.
The Multnomah County jury’s punitive damages decision came on the heels of a $70 million compensatory verdict earlier in the week. The jury sided with 17 class representatives who claimed they suffered property damage because of PacifiCorp’s failure to deactivate key power lines ahead of a windstorm which sparked numerous wildfires over the Labor Day holiday in 2020.
The 17 named plaintiffs in the case represented a larger class of roughly 5,000 individuals who also lost property in the fires. They accused PacifiCorp of failing to deactivate their lines even while other electric utilities int he area did so despite multiple warnings of the fire risk posed by the impending windstorms, including from the governor’s office.
PacifiCorp denied any liability for the fires, arguing throughout the trial that shutting down their lines would have severely impacted first responders and critical facilities like hospitals, and the company said it would appeal the jury’s verdict.
The full trial, believed to be the first time a jury sided with property owners against a utility company in a case involving wildfire damage, was webcast and recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network. Subscribers to CVN’s online video library can get unlimited on-demand access to the full trial, including all witness testimony.
Attorneys for the plaintiff class said after the trial the eventual total damages awarded could range into the billions, and that those amounts will be determined in subsequent phases of the litigation.
Matthew Preusch, a partner at Keller Rohrback LLP, expressed relief at the verdict following a lengthy trial and years of litigation.
“Finally, years after these fires, Oregonians have answers and these fire survivors have accountability. The jury confirmed what plaintiffs have long alleged: PacifiCorp is responsible for these four fires that burned thousands of properties across the state,” he said.
PacifiCorp expressed sympathy for the property owners but also stated they were confident their appeal efforts would be successful, and cast the issue of windstorm-driven wildfires as being far larger than one company.
“Escalating climate change, challenging state and federal forest management, and population growth in the wildland-urban interface are substantial factors contributing to growing wildfire risk,” the company said.
The plaintiff class was also represented by Stoll Berne, Edelson PC and Johnson Lucas & Middleton PC.
PacifiCorp was represented 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
