A jury in Oregon has found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it liable for broader damages that could push the total award well into the billions
FILE - George Coble carries a bucket of water to put out a tree still smoldering on his property destroyed by a wildfire on Sept. 12, 2020, in Mill City, Ore. PORTLAND, Ore. — — A jury in Oregon on Monday found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it liable for broader damages that could push the total award into the billions.
In a written statement, lawyers for the plaintiffs called the decision historic and said it “paves the way for potentially billions of dollars in further damages for the class members."“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,” PacifiCorp said in an emailed statement after the verdict.
The jury heard testimony Monday afternoon over whether to make PacifiCorp pay punitive damages. Nick Rosinia, an attorney for plaintiffs, told the jurors they should award punitive damages totaling five times what they have already been awarded for the harm PacifiCorp caused. “They have no real response to any of this,” plaintiffs’ attorney Cody Berne said during closing statements. “ started the fires. They destroyed the evidence. And now they have come before you and are asking not to be held accountable.”
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