Oregon utility regulators have rejected a request from PacifiCorp that sought to limit its liability in wildfire lawsuits. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Oregon utility regulators have rejected a request from PacifiCorp that sought to limit its liability in wildfire lawsuits. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Oregon utility regulators have rejected a request from PacifiCorp that sought to limit its liability in wildfire lawsuits.
Under the proposal, PacifiCorp would only have been responsible for paying out actual economic damages in lawsuit awards. The company submitted the request in November, months after an Oregon jury found it was liable for causing deadly and destructive fires over Labor Day weekend in 2020, KGW reported. The Oregon Public Utility Commission rejected PacifiCorp’s proposal on Thursday, saying it would prohibit payouts for noneconomic damages such as pain, mental suffering and emotional distress.
It said the request was too broad and likely against the law. The regulator added that the proposal could create a situation where PacifiCorp customers and non-customers are not able to seek the same damages. The proposal said that customers, in agreeing to receive PacifiCorp’s electricity, would waive their right to claim noneconomic damages.
Over the past year, Oregon juries in multiple verdicts have ordered PacifiCorp to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to vict.
