Oregon Jury Orders PacifiCorp to Pay $62 Million to Homeowners Over 2020 Wildfires

The melted sign of the Oak Park Motel destroyed by the flames of the Beachie Creek Fire is seen in Gates, east of Salem, Oregon on Sept. 13, 2020. Rob Schumacher/AFP via Getty Images

An Oregon jury on Jan. 23 ordered utility company PacifiCorp to pay out at least $62 million to nine homeowners affected by the 2020 wildfires in the state.

The payment ordered by jurors in Portland, where PacifiCorp is based, included nearly $6.3 million in total compensation for the property damage and other economic losses the homeowners suffered.

It also included $56 million for emotional distress, pain, and suffering following a trial that started on Jan. 9 in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The payout also includes $9 million for a man who jumped off a cliff into a river to escape the flames that burned through his home, Bloomberg reports. 

Tuesday’s verdict by jurors in Portland was the result of the first of three mini-trials scheduled to take place this year that are designed to serve as test cases to determine how much PacifiCorp owes Oregon residents whose homes were ravaged by a series of fires over Labor Day weekend in 2020.

The next damages trial is set to begin on Feb. 27 and will seek compensation for another nine survivors of the wildfires along with a camp that provides Christian-based recreational and educational experiences for persons with disabilities and operates at a location where a power line allegedly started one of the 2020 fires in the state, Axios reports.

A third damages trial is set for April 22, according to the publication.

PacifiCorp Appeals Rulings

PacifiCorp is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway.

The utility giant was found liable by an Oregon jury last year for causing some of the devastating wildfires in the state in 2020 after failing to cut off power to its 600,000 customers during a Labor Day windstorm, despite warnings from officials, which led to power lines toppling and fires igniting.

The fires burned through about 1,900 square miles (1.22 million acres) of land and destroyed an estimated 5,000 or more buildings. Nine people were also killed.

PacifCorp has appealed the ruling and defended its fire prevention efforts, claiming that shutting down the power would have been a last resort and was not necessary based on the information it had.

It has also argued that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit had failed to establish that its equipment was to blame for the fires

The state’s second-largest electrical utility has previously estimated that it could end up being liable for $11 billion in damages as a result of the class action lawsuit filed against the company in the wake of the wildfires and may be pushed into bankruptcy.

‘Wildfires Were Undeniably Tragic’

“The 2020 wildfires were undeniably tragic,” PacifiCorp said in a statement to ABC News following Tuesday’s ruling. "PacifiCorp has settled and will continue to settle all reasonable claims for actual damages under Oregon law...The growing threat of wildfires to communities and businesses is bigger than any one company or industry.”

Matthew Preusch, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, called Tuesday’s verdict an “important step” toward recouping as much compensation as possible for victims of the wildfires.

Elsewhere, Cody Berne, lead trial attorney for Stoll Berne, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case, said the trial was “about these brave people.”

“It was also about a corporation and its owners at Berkshire Hathaway who refuse to take any accountability. We thank the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable,” Mr. Berne told Axios.

In December, PacifiCorp also agreed to pay $299 million to settle a lawsuit brought by 463 plaintiffs who were harmed by separate devastating wildfires in southern Oregon over the Labor Day weekend in 2020.

In a statement following that settlement, PacifiCorp said the “safety of our employees, customers, and communities remains our top priority.”

The Epoch Times has contacted a spokesperson for PacifiCorp for further comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.