PG&E Responsible for California Wildfires, Class Action Says

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A group of Northern California plaintiffs seek to hold PG&E accountable for enormous property losses incurred in this year’s North Bay wildfires.

Six individual plaintiffs and their associated businesses have filed a class action against PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The plaintiffs claim the catastrophic and overwhelming wildfires were directly caused by the local utility provider’s failure to properly maintain electrical infrastructure throughout the region.

Plaintiffs Lore Olds, Skyla Olds, Nancy Hitchcock, Herman Bossano, Rebecca Bailey and Charles Holmes all own property or operate businesses within a nine-county area affected by the North Bay wildfires.

The fires began on the evening of Oct. 8, 2017. According to the plaintiffs, the North Bay wildfires eviscerated more than 245,000 acres of land across nine counties, displacing 100,000 residents. Forty-three persons are known to have died, and 185 were reported injured.

The fires damaged or destroyed more than 14,700 homes, 700 businesses and 3,600 vehicles, the plaintiffs say. Areas damaged were home to ranches, vineyards and winemaking operations.

Some of the plaintiffs say they lost their personal homes and everything inside, including irreplaceable objects of unmeasureable personal value. Plaintiffs Nancy Hitchcock and Herman Bossano say their home exploded only 18 minutes after they abandoned it.

Also included in this PG&E class action lawsuit is Transitioning Families, Bailey’s therapy and counseling practice. Lore Olds is raising claims on behalf of Sky Vineyards, his family winemaking business on Mount Veeder in Napa County, which he operates with his daughter and co-plaintiff Skyla Olds.

While the fires all had different points of origin, the plaintiffs allege they were all caused by under-maintained, unsafe electrical infrastructure under ownership and control of PG&E. Initial reports documented trees hitting and taking down PG&E power lines at or near the points of origin of several of these fires, the complaint says.

Downed trees and power lines blocked roads, preventing firefighters and other first responders from reaching the scene, the complaint says.

The plaintiffs seek to represent an Economic and Property Damages Class that would cover all individuals who as of Oct. 8 lived in, worked in, were offered and accepted work in, or owned or leased real or personal property in the counties of Butte, Calaveras, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Solano, Sonoma, and Yuba.

The Class would also include businesses and other corporate entities that as of Oct. 8 owned, operated or leased a facility in those counties and who either sold products from those counties or regularly purchased products from those counties to produce goods for resale. Entities that provided services while physically present in the fire area or owned or leased real property in the fire area are also included in the Class.

The plaintiffs seek damages to cover replacement and repair of lost and damaged property, lost business goodwill, and lost wages and earning capacity, as well as reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Lexi J. Hazam, Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Robert J. Nelson, Annika K. Martin and Abby R. Wolf of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.

The PG&E Northern California Wildfires Class Action Lawsuit is Olds, et al. v. PG&E Corp., et al., Case No. CGC-17-562791, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco.