The California Rule That Doomed PG&E: Inverse Condemnation
- Legal doctrine puts California utilities on hook for fires
- PG&E may face $30 billion liabilities for fires in 2017, 2018
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As PG&E Corp. hurtles toward bankruptcy, a once-obscure legal doctrine with an awkward name certainly bears a portion of the blame.
Known as inverse condemnation, it holds California utilities responsible for wildfire damage caused by their equipment -- whether the companies acted negligently or not. The utilities spent most of last year pushing state legislators to change it, to no avail.