A couple of weeks ago an Oregon jury found Berkshire Hathaway’s PacifiCorp guilty of causing the Labor Day Fires in 2020. In finding PacifiCorp guilty of starting the four fires, the jurors gave between $3 million to $5 million to each of the 17 individual homeowners that filed suit.
Now that same jury is looking at punitive damages.
This story is being written on Monday, June 19th. Testimony resumes on Tuesday. PacifiCorp attorney, Alison Plessman said the final total could end up being 10 times the value of the company.
It has been set at $10.7 billion.
Referring to a different suit, she said if the people owning the 2,500 properties damaged in the fire each get an award of $4.5 million, that total of $11.25 billion will wipe out the company. Plaintiff lawyer, Tim DeJong disagrees. He said last year alone, PacifiCorp earned over $5.6 billion.
No matter what the decision, PacifiCorp said it will appeal.
By the way, this case marks the first time a class-action case against a major utility has gone to a jury.
Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/3pgvFD5
