PG&E Faces Fresh Pain as Old Fire Claims Return to Haunt It
- Judge says jurors should rule on cause of deadly Tubbs fire
- Separately, PG&E will retain control of bankruptcy plan
Signage warning of power lines overhead is seen next to a burned-out vehicle in Paradise, California, on Jan. 22, 2019.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Seven months after a state agency absolved PG&E Corp. of blame for a deadly 2017 wildfire, the utility giant faces the potential of billions in new legal liabilities -- and it’s unclear how it would pay for them.
Despite the fact that investigators said PG&E wasn’t responsible for the Tubbs Fire that killed 22 people, a bankruptcy judge has ruled jurors should decide whether the company is to blame. The decision could expose the utility to $18 billion or more in claims, and the shares plunged 25% Monday in the biggest slump since the run up to its Chapter 11 filing in January. They were down 2.4% at 10:41 a.m. in New York.