An Oregon appeals court recently delivered a ruling that may impact over $1 billion in damages awarded to victims of the catastrophic wildfires that ravaged the state in 2020. The court’s decision sent a class-action lawsuit against PacifiCorp back to a lower court due to issues with jury instructions during the trial.
The Oregon Court of Appeals identified a problem with the jury instruction given during a 2023 trial that held the utility accountable for not shutting off power despite warnings from fire officials. Jurors had previously decided that PacifiCorp should pay significant damages to property owners affected by the fires.
PacifiCorp has since been ordered to pay over $1 billion in damages to thousands of class members. However, the appeals panel noted that the jury was wrongly directed to assume evidence from four different wildfires applied uniformly to all class members.
The appellate judges wrote, “We conclude that … that instruction was legally erroneous, because certain evidence at trial, particularly related to causation, did not necessarily apply to every class member.” They added, “We further conclude that giving the instruction was prejudicial to PacifiCorp. Consequently, we reverse and remand.”
The affected class includes owners of over 2,000 properties damaged by fires, such as the Santiam Canyon fire in northwestern Oregon, the Echo Mountain Complex fire near the coast, and the South Obenchain and 242 fires in southwestern Oregon. These fires were among the most severe natural disasters in Oregon’s history, killing 11 people and destroying thousands of homes over an area of 1,560 square miles (4,040 square kilometers).
The path forward for the case remains uncertain, with over 1,000 class members awaiting trials in 2026 and 2027, and potential appeals to the state supreme court under consideration. PacifiCorp expressed that the Court’s decision supports its belief that the process was flawed, stating, “The company remains open to resolving reasonable claims and will continue to defend against unsupported claims.”
On the other hand, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel described the court’s decision as a “procedural setback” but maintained that “nothing in this ruling suggests the jury got it wrong.” The court’s decision addressed a single jury instruction, leaving open the option to correct it and retry the case.
In another development, PacifiCorp has consented to pay over $2 billion to settle various lawsuits related to the 2020 wildfires, including $575 million to the federal government for fire damages on federal lands in Oregon and California.
In an effort to stabilize its finances amid ongoing legal battles, PacifiCorp announced in February its plans to sell its wind, natural gas generation, and distribution assets in Washington state to Portland General Electric Company for $1.9 billion. Despite appealing the wildfire judgments, the company has had to post court bonds, affecting its cash flow.
