By Jonathan Stempel
April 8 (Reuters) - An appeals court on Wednesday ruled in favor of Berkshire Hathaway's PacifiCorp unit over a series of Oregon wildfires in 2020, saying a trial judge erred in letting litigation against the utility proceed as a class action.
The decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals in Salem could reduce PacifiCorp's wildfire liability, which Berkshire has estimated could total tens of billions of dollars.
PacifiCorp has denied claims by Oregon residents and business owners who
accused it of negligently failing to shut off power lines during a Labor Day weekend windstorm, causing four wildfires - Santiam Canyon, Echo Mountain Complex, South Obenchain and 242 - that damaged more than 2,000 properties.
The Portland-based utility said the trial judge overseeing the so-called James litigation erred in allowing a class action as a group over fires that were each more than 100 miles (161 km) from each other, and a fifth fire that PacifiCorp blamed on lightning.
A three-judge appeals court panel said the judge should not have instructed jurors they could "assume that the evidence at the trial applies to all class members."
Judge Anna Joyce said much of the evidence concerned "particular issues concerning particular wildfires," as well as specific ignitions within the largest fire, Santiam Canyon.
Jurors could not "simply 'assume' that that evidence applied 'to all class members,'" Joyce wrote.
Class actions can allow greater recoveries at lower cost than if plaintiffs were required to sue individually.
PACIFICORP OPEN TO RESOLVING REASONABLE CLAIMS
The appeals court returned the case to Judge Steffan Alexander in the Multnomah County Circuit Court. It said he could reconsider whether a single class was appropriate, having seen the litigation's progress.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
PacifiCorp said in a statement it was "sensitive to the profound losses" suffered by fire victims, and remained open to resolving reasonable claims.
"There are no winners in wildfire, however the court’s decision supports our longstanding belief that this process was prejudicial and not appropriate for managing wildfire litigation," it said.
TRIALS SLATED TO CONTINUE INTO 2028
The James litigation has encompassed a series of "mini-trials" that began in January 2024, and which had been expected to continue into 2028.
Plaintiffs had been awarded about $5 million on average, including for non-economic damages such as emotional distress, before a jury on February 25 awarded $305 million to 16 plaintiffs, or about $19 million each.
Standard & Poor's warned last month it may downgrade PacifiCorp to "junk" status if future jury awards remained high.
Through late March, PacifiCorp had reached about $2.2 billion of settlements with approximately 4,600 wildfire claimants.
On February 20, PacifiCorp agreed to pay $575 million to resolve U.S. government claims related to six wildfires in Oregon and California that burned federal land.
Berkshire bought PacifiCorp for $5.1 billion in 2006. The utility's immediate parent is Berkshire Hathaway Energy, whose former chief Greg Abel replaced Warren Buffett as Berkshire's chief executive on January 1. Buffett remains chairman of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)
