© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett plays bridge during Berkshire’s annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, May 3, 2015. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo
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By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – An Oregon jury on Monday found Pacificcorp, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:) Inc., liable in a $1.6 billion class action lawsuit over four wildfires that devastated the state in 2020. Juries in Portland, where PacifiCorp is headquartered, awarded more than $73 million in compensatory damages to 17 of the plaintiffs, after a seven-week trial in Multnomah County Court, the plaintiffs’ attorney said.
The jurors also applied their liability findings to thousands of other plaintiffs who said the fires damaged nearly 2,400 properties. These claimants’ compensation will be determined in subsequent court proceedings. Punitive damages have not yet been determined for all plaintiffs.
Pacificcorp said it “plans to pursue appeals, and we are confident we will prevail,” adding that “regardless of the outcome, a trial will not fully restore what was lost.” Fire victims accused PacifiCorp of gross negligence and creating an inconvenience by failing to shut down power lines during the Labor Day storm. Victims said PacifiCorp did nothing despite knowing its equipment was damaged, and despite forecasts of high winds with gusts that could reach hurricane force. Eyewitnesses reported seeing power lines starting fires or giving off sparks.
The case was brought by survivors of the Santiam Canyon Fire, which formed from the merger of multiple fires, east of Oregon’s capital Salem; the Mount Echo fire in Lincoln County; The South Obenchain Fire in Jackson County, and the 242nd Fire in Klamath County. PacifiCorp defended its fire prevention efforts, saying that cutting the power supply would have been a last resort and was not necessary based on what it knows. She also said that prosecutors did not prove that her equipment was to blame. Wildfires across Oregon in 2020 burned nearly 1,900 square miles (1.22 million acres), destroying an estimated 5,000 or more structures and killing at least nine people. The trial began on April 25.
PacifiCorp is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which is 92% owned by Berkshire Hathaway.