Warren Buffett’s PacifiCorp Now Faces $30 Billion Fire Claim Demand

  • Damages sought are five times average amount awarded so far
  • Company says $30 million-a-person demand shows need for reform

Residents walk through a mobile home park destroyed by a wildfire in Phoenix, Oregon, on Sept. 10, 2020.

Photographer: David Ryder/Getty Images

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s PacifiCorp now faces a demand for $30 billion from victims of Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day wildfires, an escalation of a legal onslaught on the largest grid operator in the western US.

While the amount sought in an amended complaint filed Monday is about two and a half times what the utility is worth, it’s also much bigger than the payout PacifiCorp might be expected to face based on claims resolved so far.