Oregon jury orders PacifiCorp to pay $305M to wildfire victims in latest class-action verdict

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon jury has ordered PacifiCorp to pay $305 million to 16 victims of the state's devastating 2020 wildfires in the latest verdict in a class-action lawsuit against the utility that includes thousands of members.

PacifiCorp has now been ordered by juries to pay over $1 billion in damages to members of the class following a 2023 trial in which it was found liable for negligently failing to cut power during a windstorm despite warnings from top fire officials.

PacifiCorp’s appeal of the case is making its way through state court. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 class members have cases set for trial in 2026 and 2027.

The 2020 Labor Day weekend fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history. They killed 11 people, burned more than 1,560 square miles (4,040 square kilometers) and destroyed thousands of homes.

The amounts awarded by a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury Wednesday were to 16 victims of the Santiam Canyon fire in northwest Oregon.

“This verdict is a meaningful acknowledgment of the devastation they’ve endured and reaffirms the irreversible losses they’ve suffered as a result of the fires,” Shawn Rabin, who led the trial team representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

In an emailed statement, PacifiCorp said the verdict was an “irresponsible outcome related to damages caused by a fire that PacifiCorp did not start or contribute to as determined by the Oregon Department of Forestry.”

"This is why we have been and will continue to challenge these verdicts," the utility said.

In a report released last year, the Oregon Department of Forestry found that 12 of 19 fires in Santiam Canyon in September 2020 were caused by embers from another fire. The other seven fires were caused by downed power lines but were determined not to have contributed to the spread of large fires in the canyon, and they were suppressed by residents or firefighters, according to the report.

Plaintiffs' attorneys have described the report as flawed and missing evidence.

Separately, PacifiCorp has agreed to pay over $2 billion to settle claims stemming from a series of lawsuits it has faced over the 2020 blazes, including $575 million to the federal government for wildfire damages on federal land in Oregon and California.