Legal
Berkshire Unit’s Payout for Oregon Fires Could Grow to Billions
- PacifiCorp blamed for massive destruction in Oregon in 2020
- Portland jury sides with fire victims who lost properties
A mobile home park destroyed by wildfire in Phoenix, Oregon, on Sept. 10, 2020.
Photographer: David Ryder/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A Berkshire Hathaway Inc. unit found liable by a jury for destruction caused by the 2020 Labor Day Fires in Oregon could face damages well beyond PacifiCorp’s net worth of $10.7 billion, a lawyer for the company told a jury.
Jurors in Portland state court awarded $3 million to more than $5 million to each of 17 individual homeowners Monday after concluding PacifiCorp was responsible for four of the 2020 wildfires across the state that intensified under hot, dry winds, consuming houses, businesses, schools, and scorching more than 1 million acres in southern, central and coastal Oregon.