Legal
Berkshire Hathaway’s PacifiCorp Loses Bid to Delay Trial Over Final Payout for Fires
- Judge orders next phase to begin Jan. 8 for property damages
- Utility lost $90 million verdict in June for 2020 Oregon fires
A mobile home park destroyed by a fire in Phoenix, Oregon, on Sept. 10, 2020.
Photographer: David Ryder/Getty Images
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Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co.’s PacifiCorp failed to postpone the final phase of a trial over catastrophic Oregon wildfire damages that will determine how much the utility will have to pay — an amount it had estimated to be as much as $11 billion.
A state court judge in Portland ordered the trial over the potential payouts to start Jan. 8. The ruling Friday follows a June verdict when the judge ordered PacifiCorp to pay 17 owners of properties destroyed by a series of 2020 fires an average of $5 million each.