By Jonathan Stempel
OMAHA, Nebraska, May 2 (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel on Saturday welcomed a recent court decision that could limit liabilities at its PacifiCorp utility business as it defends against lawsuits over wildfires in Oregon and northern California.
Speaking at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, Abel said the April 8 decision by an Oregon state appeals court that a large wildfire case could not proceed as a class action relieves pressure on PacifiCorp,
as it tries to persuade regulators to ensure it can charge enough to justify providing power.
"We're back to first base" on the legal side, he said, meaning the threat has been dialed back.
PacifiCorp has been defending against litigation over a series of wildfires in Oregon and California, including several that victims blamed on its failure to shut off power lines during a 2020 Labor Day weekend windstorm.
In the biggest case, an Oregon jury in 2023 found PacifiCorp grossly negligent, exposing the Portland-based utility to tens of billions of potential liability in subsequent damages trials.
PacifiCorp has said it once faced as much as $55 billion of potential claims.
But the Oregon appeals court said the trial judge erred in instructing the original jury it could assume PacifiCorp's wrongful conduct applied to all affected fire victims.
Before that decision, 171 plaintiffs had been awarded about $1.1 billion in a series of "mini-trials" that began in January 2024 and which had been expected to continue into 2028.
"They said, back to ground zero, start over again," Abel said.
PacifiCorp has been working to push several western U.S. states to cap liability for wildfires, and set up state-administered wildfire funds to compensate victims, so long as utilities file and honor safety plans designed to mitigate damage.
Utilities such as PacifiCorp believe this arrangement provides a safety net that lets them invest effectively in maintenance and grid infrastructure without fear that indeterminate litigation could strain their liquidity or lead to bankruptcy.
Abel said PacifiCorp desires a "regulatory compact" where it can charge customers enough to justify spending more on infrastructure, without taking on excessive risk, but faces resistance from regulators and politicians who don't want rates to go up.
States that have addressed utilities' wildfire exposures include California, which boosted its wildfire fund by $18 billion following multiple fires that ravaged parts of the Los Angeles area in January 2025.
Abel has called Utah's protections, which let large utilities surcharge customers and cap liability on some claims, the "gold standard."
Oregon in particular has yet to follow.
PacifiCorp's immediate parent is Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which Berkshire owns. Berkshire bought the utility for $5.1 billion in 2006.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska, editing by Colin Barr and Sharon Singleton)
