Chris and Nancy Brown embrace while searching through the remains of their home, leveled by the Camp Fire, in Paradise, California, on Nov. 12, 2018. As the fire approached, Nancy Brown escaped from the home with her 2-year-old and three dogs. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Class Action Wants PG&E to Pay for Wildfire Damages in California
The suit, filed by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Edelson PC, is among the first class actions brought over California's wildfires last month.
December 05, 2018 at 07:50 PM
3 minute read
Lawyers in California have filed the first class action over a deadly wildfire that killed 88 people and destroyed 14,000 buildings last month.
The suit, filed on Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s failure to maintain its electrical equipment caused the Camp Fire that charred through 150,000 acres. The class action, which notes that the California utility company has at least $1.4 billion in wildfire insurance, seeks economic damages for individuals who lost homes, personal property and income due to the wildfire.
“This is a disaster of a scale unprecedented in California,” said Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, who filed the case alongside Chicago's Edelson PC. Lieff Cabraser, based in San Francisco, was on the plaintiffs' executive committee in lawsuits brought against PG&E over a series of wildfires in California's wine region last year.
“With the information alleged in the complaint, that the fire was started by unsafe PG&E equipment, it becomes a tragedy that could have, and should have, been avoided had PG&E done their legal duty of safely operating and maintaining their power infrastructure,” Cabraser added.
For PG&E's part, spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said in an emailed statement that customer and community safety were the company's “highest priority.”
“The cause of the Camp Fire is still under investigation. We are aware of lawsuits regarding the Camp Fire. Right now, our focus is on assessing infrastructure, safely restoring power where possible, and helping our customers recover and rebuild,” Subbotin added.
The suit isn't the first brought over the Camp Fire or another wildfire that destroyed 500 structures in Southern California last month. Most of those cases haven't been class actions but individual plaintiffs alleging damages or wrongful death claims.
Residents of four homes and one business destroyed by the Camp Fire filed Wednesday's class action, which brings negligence, inverse condemnation, private and public nuisance and premises liability claims, along with other allegations.
It asks to certify an “economic and property damages class” of an estimated tens of thousands of individuals and businesses with various types of damages, including loss of income, real and personal property, and costs associated with evacuations.
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
‘Not A Kindergarten Teacher’: Judge Blasts Keller Postman, Jenner & Block, in Mass Arb Dispute
6 minute read
Blake Lively's claims that movie co-star launched smear campaign gets support in publicist's suit
4 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Bar Report - Dec. 30
- 2Employment Law Developments to Expect From the Second Trump Administration
- 3How I Made Law Firm Leadership: 'It’s Imperative That You Never Stop Learning,' Says Ian Ribald of Ballard Spahr
- 4People in the News—Dec. 30, 2024—Pond Lehocky, Buchanan Ingersoll
- 5Orange Belongs to All: U-Haul Suit Argues Rival Public Storage Cannot Claim the Color
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
