First trial against PG&E in 2017 fires to start next year

The Atlas fire, the largest of the 2017 infernos that swept across the North Bay, will be the first up on the court docket in the mounting number of suits against PG&E.|

The opening clash in a titanic legal battle over whether PG&E should pay for the damage caused by the October 2017 firestorm in the North Bay will start with the Atlas fire in Napa County, which burned nearly 52,000 acres, destroyed 783 structures and killed six people.

Set to begin in September 2019, the trial will provide the first venue for people who lost property or loved ones in the North Bay fires to bring evidence against PG&E before a jury and argue the utility giant failed to maintain its equipment or prepare for high winds predicted days in advance.

The trial will be a central stage for PG&E, whose maintenance record and safety measures have come under heavy scrutiny in California, where the latest record-breaking inferno, the Camp fire in Butte County, has destroyed more than 10,000 homes and businesses and claimed at least 63 lives.

The utility is under heavy financial pressure amid speculation its equipment may have sparked the Camp fire. It has already been sued by people who lost homes in the blaze.

PG&E faces liabilities exceeding $15 billion in the 2017 fires. Its representatives have staked out a public defense that last year’s hot, dry weather conditions were beyond the utility’s control, and that increasingly destructive fires in the state are reflective of a dangerous new era ushered in by climate change.

Attorneys representing thousands of plaintiffs - home and business owners, municipalities and families of those killed in the 2017 fires - have pushed back, pointing to state investigations that found PG&E power lines and equipment sparked at least 17 of last year’s major wildfires. In 11 of those cases, Cal Fire said its investigators found evidence showing the utility was in violation of state safety laws, forwarding the reports to local prosecutors for review.

A Cal Fire report on the most destructive 2017 blaze, the Tubbs fire, is pending.

Plaintiff Norma Quintana, who lost her Napa home of nearly 30 years and in the Atlas fire, said she is thrilled her case will be tried first. She initially was at first reluctant to join a lawsuit, but came to believe it necessary for fire survivors to promote better public policy and a safer electrical grid.

“This is what I want PG&E to understand: Our house is where we find solace and a sense of safety,” said Quintana, an artist and photographer who lost decades of work. “And what’s happened is people now don’t feel safe.”

In all cases, plaintiffs claim the investor-owned utility failed to adequately maintain its power equipment or properly prepare for hazardous risks associated with its infrastructure.

PG&E had asked the court to start the trials with the Tubbs fire before the other cases because it was the most destructive and deadly of the 2017 wildfires, igniting near Calistoga in northern Napa County and racing west overnight to burn entire Santa Rosa neighborhoods to the ground. The Tubbs fire alone killed 22  people and caused an estimated $8 billion in damage in Sonoma County, where more than 5,300 homes were lost in the fires.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow acknowledged there was “serious debate” around the cause of the Tubbs fire in his Nov. 2 decision to prioritize the Atlas fire case.

Court filings in pre-trial hearings in the PG&E lawsuits reveal the parties are arguing whether the Tubbs fire ignited at multiple locations and whether privately installed electrical equipment contributed to or caused the fire, which exploded amid strong winds and shot over the Mayacamas Mountains into Sonoma County.

Investigators quickly focused on a property on Bennett Lane north of Calistoga as the origin of the Tubbs fire, first reported about 9:45 p.m. Oct. 8.

PG&E contends that the fire was sparked by power equipment installed on behalf of a Bennett Lane property owner, according to court documents filed by the utility’s lawyers. PG&E argued in the documents that evidence will show the fire started with power equipment installed by an unlicensed electrician, including a private power pole that provided electricity to a well pump. The work was not permitted or inspected, according to court documents.

Lawyers for the utility also argued the cases are not about its maintenance record or safety policies but should focus on specific facts related to the circumstances of each fire.

But lawyers for fire victims dispute PG&E’s arguments.

Santa Rosa-based attorney Roy Miller, who is among the lawyers representing burned-out residents, says they have strong evidence documented by a private fire investigator that shows PG&E equipment caused the Tubbs fire. Among the evidence, he said are telltale burn marks on trees showing the fire ignited closer to PG&E power lines, according to Miller.

“We’re comfortable proving PG&E is responsible, and we’re ready to prove it,” said Miller, who lost his Wikiup home north of Santa Rosa in the Tubbs fire, setting him apart from most if not all other lawyers involved in the case.

The Atlas fire started just before 10 p.m. Oct. 8 near Atlas Peak with two ignition points caused when the same power line was struck twice, once by a large tree limb and also when an entire tree fell ointo it, according to Cal Fire’s findings released June 8. The Atlas fire, the largest of the October 2017 blazes, caused the bulk of damage in Napa County, where insured losses exceed $1.5 billion.

The state’s investigative report on the Atlas fire was among the cases forwarded to Napa County prosecutors for review. Others include the Norrbom, Partrick and Pythian fires.

Napa County Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero said the office is still reviewing Cal Fire’s findings on the blazes. Gero said they are waiting for additional information from Cal Fire before they can determine whether there is sufficient evidence to file charges against PG&E.

Faced with deciding which trial should take the lead, Judge Karnow ruled Nov. 2 the Atlas fire had the most similarities with other wildfires, giving it a greater chance of setting precedents for the other lawsuits filed against PG&E by fire victims.

Karnow also decided the trial, estimated to take eight weeks, will be held in San Francisco after conferring with Napa County’s presiding judge, who informed him the court doesn’t have the resources to handle such complex litigation, according to the order.

John Fiske, an attorney representing Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties in their litigation against PG&E, said the trials will pose key questions about how PG&E manages its grid for fire risk. Such matters are becoming increasingly urgent with each new major wildfire that breaks out, Fiske said.

“This is the first time PG&E is going to have to stand up before a judge and jury and explain why they didn’t mess up,” John Fiske said. “That’s important from a policy perspective. We want to prevent these fires in the first place. We want to bring evidence before a jury to show what PG&E did wrong.”

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