Berkshire electric utility’s court win could save it billions

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An Oregon Court of Appeals ruling this week accepted PacifiCorp’s argument the judge in a 2023 trial mistakenly told jurors it could assume evidence it heard about wildfire damages suffered by 17 homeowners also applied to a class of thousands of other plaintiffs.

The appellate judges sent what’s been called the James class action back to the trial court for reconsideration.

The 2023 jury found the Berkshire utility liable for negligently failing to shut down power lines during a powerful windstorm, contributing to four separate wildfires that caused significant property damage.

It said the liability determination applied not only to the 17 plaintiffs in that trial, but also to the entire class of other plaintiffs.

In subsequent “mini-trials” to determine how much PacifiCorp would have to pay groups of plaintiffs, other juries have awarded them more than $1 billion in damages.

Those trials had been expected to continue for the next several years,

Plaintiffs in the class may have to start again and prove the company is liable for their specific damages, although this week’s ruling could be appealed to the state’s top court.

The appeals judges noted the class includes owners of more than 2,000 properties that were damaged by different fires separated by more than a hundred miles.

The AP reports a statement by the lead counsel for the plaintiffs is calling the ruling a “procedural setback” that didn’t suggest “the jury got it wrong” when it found PacifiCorp liable.

“In fact, the Court rejected PacifiCorp’s efforts to win this appeal on the merits. Instead, what the court addressed was a single jury instruction, charting several paths forward — including fixing that instruction and trying the case again.”

In a news release, PacifiCorp said it is “sensitive to the profound losses experienced by members of our communities. There are no winners in wildfire; however, the Court’s decision supports PacifiCorp’s longstanding belief that this process was prejudicial and not appropriate for managing wildfire litigation.”

The utility says it “remains open to resolving reasonable claims and will continue to defend against unsupported claims.”

Berkshire Hathaway Energy will face a proposed class action suit accusing it of conspiring to increase real estate commissions even though its HomeServices of America brokerage paid $250 million two years ago to settle the same claims, Reuters reports.

A federal judge in Missouri ruled against BHE’s argument it was covered by the HomeServices settlement…