Jurors in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Wednesday awarded an eye-popping $305 million in damages to 16 plaintiffs in an ongoing class action lawsuit against PacifiCorp related to four 2020 wildfires.
A jury in 2023 found the utility grossly negligent and reckless for failing to turn off the power amid a severe windstorm during Labor Day weekend, causing four catastrophic blazes: The Santiam Canyon, 242, Echo Mountain Complex and South Obenchain fires. That initial liability verdict applies to all 2,500 members of the class, and juries are now determining damages for individual plaintiffs in an ongoing series of minitrials.
Wednesday’s verdict was significant for the size of the judgments — an average of $19 million per plaintiff, though a portion of the awards are for punitive damages, most of which go to the state. The latest verdict awards also pushed PacifiCorp’s liabilities in this one lawsuit past $1 billion. That’s the total for just 145 plaintiffs who have had damage trials to date.
Interest is accruing on those unpaid judgments, and some 1,500 additional plaintiffs are scheduled for their own damage trials between now and March 2028. One damage trial per week is scheduled this year, with the pace increasing to two-per-week next year.
PacifiCorp has appealed the initial verdict on multiple grounds. Its principal contention is that Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Steffan Alexander improperly certified a single class for victims in four separate fires. But it also argues that the award of non-economic damages for pain and suffering is contrary to Oregon law.
All of the damage awards Wednesday went to victims of the Santiam Canyon fire, which the utility contends its equipment didn’t cause.
Non-economic damages comprise about two thirds of the judgments to date. On Wednesday, for instance, the jury awarded all 16 plaintiffs a total of $1.28 million in actual economic damages for property losses. Under Oregon law, those are automatically doubled in cases where the defendant is found grossly negligent. Meanwhile, jurors slapped PacifiCorp with $18.5 million in non-economic damages for each of 12 adult plaintiffs and $5 million apiece for four minors. The balance of the judgments — some $61 million — were for punitive damages, 70% of which goes to the state of Oregon.
The Oregon Court of Appeals heard oral arguments earlier this month. It’s unclear when the appellate panel will deliver a decision.
In the meantime, PacifiCorp has separately agreed to pay some $2.2 billion damages to about 4,200 plaintiffs, including individuals, wineries and the U.S. government, whose property was damaged in wildfires caused by the utility’s equipment. Those settlements have already placed a heavy strain on the company’s balance sheet and prompted credit rating downgrades that make it more expensive for the company to borrow.
With its own cash position strained, the company plans to sell its Washington service territory to Portland General Electric for $1.9 billion, and transfer its ownership share in a major new transmission line being built in eastern Oregon to a subsidiary of its parent company, Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway.
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
