Legal
Berkshire Utility Reaches $299 Million Oregon Fire Accord
- Settlement resolves suits by homeowners wiped out by fire
- Timber company claims over fire still set for Jan. 30 trial
Residents walk through a mobile home park destroyed by fire in Phoenix, Oregon, in 2020.
Photographer: David Ryder/Getty Images
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Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co.’s PacifiCorp said it will pay $299 million to settle claims over wildfires that burned homes in southwest Oregon, averting another jury trial in litigation that has already exposed the utility to billions in damages.
The accord, disclosed Tuesday in a regulatory filing, will resolve claims by homeowners that the utility’s equipment was responsible for ignitions around Labor Day 2020 in Douglas County that burned more than 131,000 acres and destroyed more than 100 residences.