While no “official” cause has been given for what started Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day wildfires, a jury in Portland, Oregon has found PacifiCorp guilty of causing the fires. It’s going to be a very expensive verdict with more to come.
That guilt was determined in a civil suit.
Along with the guilty verdict comes financial compensation for the 17 homeowners that filed the suit a month after the fires started. They’ll pick up $4.5 million each and another $3 million for the emotional distress caused by the fires.
Here’s something even more problematic for PacifiCorp. The jury attached its liability finding to another case where the owners of 2,500 properties damaged by the fires are suing the company. If PacificCorp loses that case, damages from the fires could end up costing it over $1 billion.
The company was warned by fire officials that a huge windstorm was coming and urged PacifiCorp to cut power to its 600,000 customers during that storm. PacifiCorp ignored the warning. The resulting fires killed nine people, burned over 1,875 square miles and destroyed over 5,000 homes and other structures.
PacifiCorp is owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Source link: MSN — https://bit.ly/3oYFUfb
