SoCal Edison Agrees to Settlement in 2017, 2018 Wildfires
November 13 2019 - 6:27PM
Dow Jones News
By Jim Carlton
California's second-largest utility company has agreed to pay
$360 million to compensate about two dozen local governmental
entities for damages and other costs related to a series of fires
and resulting mudslides that hit the region in 2017 and 2018.
The settlements announced Wednesday show that Southern
California Edison, an arm of Edison International, faces similar
liability problems to troubled PG&E Corp. The bankrupt Northern
California power company last June agreed to a $1 billion
settlement with communities and other local agencies for damages
from fires in 2017 and 2018, including the Camp Fire that destroyed
the town of Paradise.
Edison recently conceded its equipment was the likely spark of
the 96,949-acre Woolsey Fire in and around Malibu last year, and
Ventura County fire investigators have determined Edison power
lines sparked the 281,893-acre Thomas Fire in 2017.
Edison officials said Wednesday's agreements were a compromise
reached between the utility and the local agencies to resolve their
claims, and that it made no admissions of wrongdoing or
liability.
The settlements don't apply to claims filed against the utility
by homeowners and businesses that are pending in various courts.
PG&E still faces billions in potential liability from private
claims over its fires.
The settlements came after a mediation process presided over by
a retired federal judge, and were less than what the local agencies
had originally wanted but more than what Edison initially
offered.
Attorneys at Baron & Budd, which represented the public
agencies, said $210 million from the settlements would go to 15
local agencies, including Los Angeles County and the city of
Malibu, that were involved in fighting the Woolsey Fire.
The remaining $150 million will go to 11 local agencies,
including Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, that fought the
Thomas Fire and subsequent mudslides in the area.
The public agencies are being compensated for costs including
staff overtime and damage to buildings, parks and infrastructure,
said attorney John Fiske, who leads Baron & Budd's wildfire
practice. He said the communities, in turn, would use some of the
proceeds to repay state and federal disaster-assistance
payments.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 13, 2019 18:12 ET (23:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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