Insurance companies will pay to rebuild most of the homes that were burned down. But even if the newly rebuilt homes are identical to the old ones in all respects, the Butte Fire homeowners will still have a loss. The fact is that a home in the area simply won’t be worth what it was
Fires and Explosions
Butte Fire: Diverting Money Raised For Tree-Trimming Wouldn’t Be Anything New For PG&E
By Mike Danko on
Posted in Butte Fire
As lawyers for the victims of the San Bruno fire, we learned that the “gas side of the house” at PG&E saves money by collecting money from rate payers to perform maintenance and then deferring the work. The extra money on the books helps improve PG&E’s bottom line, and results in bigger bonuses for…
Butte Fire: Was the Tree Dead or Alive?
By Mike Danko on
Posted in Butte Fire
By now it’s no secret that the Butte Fire was likely sparked by a tree coming into contact with a PG&E overhead line. Jaxon Van Der Beken of the San Francisco Chronicle (who, by the way, won awards for his investigative reporting of the San Bruno PG&E fire), broke that news a week ago.…
PG&E Agrees to Pay
By Mike Danko on
Posted in San Bruno Gas Explosion
At 2:00 p.m. today, the lawyers will report to Judge Dylina that PG&E has agreed to settle all but two of the lawsuits brought against it by the victims of the PG&E explosion. PG&E agreed to settle with 286 of its victims on Friday, September 6, and with the remaining 61 on September 9 —…
San Bruno Trial Halted
By Mike Danko on
Posted in San Bruno Gas Explosion
The jury was supposed to be empanelled in February to hear and decide ten families’ test cases against PG&E. But over the last few weeks, while the attorneys argued pre-trial motions, a number of those families’ cases settled. Today, the judge ruled that the four cases that are still on for trial (Healy, O’Neill, Chea, and…
San Bruno Judge Makes More Rulings As Trial Approaches
By Mike Danko on
Posted in San Bruno Gas Explosion
With the January 2 trial date fast approaching, today’s case management conference before Judge Dylina lasted most of the day.
Punitive Damages Claim Won’t Be Split Off
PG&E asked the court to split off the issue of whether PG&E should pay punitive damages and save that issue for a second trial later next year. The…
San Bruno Judge Refuses to Throw Out Victims’ Claim for Punitive Damages
By Mike Danko on
Posted in San Bruno Gas Explosion
Today Judge Dylina denied PG&E’s request to throw out of court the victims’ claims for punitive damages. Instead, he is leaving the question of whether PG&E should pay punitive damages to the jury.
PG&E argued that the punitive damages issue was getting in the way of settlement negotiations. PG&E says it has done nothing deserving of punishment. …
San Bruno Gas Explosion: Punitive Damages Hearing Postponed
By Mike Danko on
Posted in San Bruno Gas Explosion
Judge Dylina has postponed argument on whether the victims’ claims for punitive damages against PG&E should be thrown out of court. Arguments will now be heard on October 29 instead of October 15.
The judge also postponed to December 21 arguments on what evidence, if any, will be excluded from trial.
The trial date of…
PG&E’s Lawyer Denies PG&E Ever Lost Its Way
By Mike Danko on
Posted in San Bruno Gas Explosion
PG&E’s new $10 million media campaign features Tony Earley, PG&E’s CEO, saying that in recent years, PG&E had "lost its way." (Cue the music and the video of cute little kids.)
That, I suppose, is what passes among PG&E’s top management as an apology.
Seems that Earley forgot to run his sound bite by PG&E’s…
San Bruno Explosion: Two Years Later
By Mike Danko on
Posted in San Bruno Gas Explosion
Hundreds of PG&E’s victims still haven’t been compensated for what they’ve been through. PG&E admits it caused the explosion, but it still hasn’t settled their claims.
Once the lawsuits started, some thought PG&E would want to “settle quick.” Those folks were wrong. The fact of the matter is that PG&E has paid settlements on…