Pacific Gas & Electric headquarters at 77 Beale Street in San Francisco. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALMFollowing Guilty Plea Over Wildfire and Bankruptcy Exit, PG&E Makes General Counsel Switch
John Simon, who currently serves as the executive vice president of law and strategy, is slated to retake the role of general counsel on Aug. 15.
July 31, 2020 at 02:47 PM
3 minute read
San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. announced this week that its former interim CEO will take over as general counsel in August.
The move comes a month after the company completed restructuring and exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy and a month after it pleaded guilty to its equipment causing a wildfire that killed over 80 people and destroyed thousands of properties in Butte County, California, in 2018.
John Simon, who currently serves as the executive vice president of law and strategy, is slated to retake the role of general counsel Aug. 15, according to Thursday's Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He will take over for Janet Loduca.
John R. Simon of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Simon served as the company's general counsel from March 2017 to January 2019. During his tenure as general counsel, the company was accused of recklessness that led to a wildfire that killed 84 people and destroyed 18,804 structures. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection determined that the Nov. 8, 2018, Camp Fire in Butte County was caused by electrical lines owned by PG&E. The company agreed that it would plead guilty in March.
In June, PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter in connection with the deaths in Butte County Superior Court. The company was fined $4 million, and no one in the company was sentenced to prison for the fire.
"No words from me can ever reduce the magnitude of that devastation," then-CEO Bill Johnson said in during the June 16 guilty plea hearing.
"Our equipment started that fire and destroyed the towns of Paradise, Concow and severely burned Magalia," Johnson said.
Loduca was tapped to become general counsel of the company in January 2019 when Simon was named interim CEO, a role he served until May 2019.
With Loduca as general counsel and Simon as interim CEO, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In June, Johnson announced the company completed the bankruptcy and restructuring process. During the guilty plea hearing in Butte County Superior Court, Johnson said once the bankruptcy process was complete, the company would be paying approximately $25.5 billion in settlements to the victims of the fire and Butte County agencies.
Loduca has worked for PG&E in a variety of other roles since 2000 including director and counsel of the generation section, senior director of analysis and rates, chief of staff to the office of the president, vice president of corporate relations, vice president of investor relations and deputy general counsel.
It is not clear if Loduca has another job lined up. She did not respond to request for comment on LinkedIn on Friday. A spokesperson for PG&E said Loduca and Simon were not available for comment.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Old Laws, New Tricks: Lawyers Using Patchwork of Creative Legal Theories to Target New Tech
In-House Gurus Say Inattention to Human Side of Tech Adoption Can Derail Best-Laid Plans
5 minute read
Nike Promotes Legal Chief to Marketing Chief as New CEO Launches Turnaround
Trending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
- 3Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 4Greenberg Traurig Initiates String of Suits Following JPMorgan Chase's 'Infinite Money Glitch'
- 5Data-Driven Legal Strategies
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
