By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – The law firms leading class-action litigation against PacifiCorp over the 2020 Labor Day weekend wildfires in Oregon want to examine whether the utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is colluding with other law firms to reach lowball settlements with fire victims.
In a court filing, Edelson PC, Keller Rohrbach and Stoll Berne said they were blindsided when PacifiCorp and three law firms not involved in the class action jointly announced a $178-million settlement on June 3 with 403 victims of the Beachie Creek and Echo Mountain Complex fires.
The class-action firms said payouts per victim were barely two-thirds of the payouts in an earlier $299-million settlement obtained by other law firms for victims of the Archie Creek fire, and included almost nothing for pain and mental suffering.
They said the June 3 settlement came just one week after mediation to resolve the class action broke down, as the three other law firms began cold-calling and mailbox-stuffing to encourage fire victims to hire them and settle.
“(The three firms) appear to be working hand-in-hand with PacifiCorp to enrich themselves, benefit PacifiCorp, and harm fire survivors” by settling claims at a “PacifiCorp-approved, bargain-basement price point,” the class-action firms said.
PacifiCorp had no immediate comment on Friday. The three firms, Warren Allen, Spreter Petiprin and the Swigart Law Group, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The dispute threatens to complicate Portland-based PacifiCorp’s efforts to settle Oregon and northern California wildfire claims, after being blamed for failing to shut off power lines during a windstorm.
PacifiCorp has paid more than $1 billion to settle over 1,600 claims, but faces billions of dollars of additional claims, including a $30-billion lawsuit.
Last month, the three firms in the $178-million settlement asked the Portland-based judge overseeing the class action to clarify when they can solicit fire victims.
The class-action firms now want the judge’s permission to review communications between the three firms, PacifiCorp and class members for possible collusion, and let victims who settled with PacifiCorp back out if collusion is found.
PacifiCorp is a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which is 92% owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate that Buffett has run since 1965.
Greg Abel, Buffett’s expected successor as chief executive, said at Berkshire’s annual meeting on May 4 that PacifiCorp will continue challenging “unfounded” wildfire litigation.
The case is James et al v. PacifiCorp et al, Oregon Circuit Court, Multnomah County, No. 20CV33885.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Rod Nickel)
