Pacific Gas & Electric sued by burned-out Santa Rosa homeowners

A Santa Rosa couple has filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Company, blaming the utility for the blaze that destroyed their home and thousands of others in Sonoma County.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, is the first against PG&E alleging it had a role in the wildfires that killed 42 people and destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and businesses. Cal Fire and the California Public Utility Commission have not completed their investigations into the cause of the fires.

“PG&E has a history with not managing their equipment,” said Bill Robins III of Robins Cloud LLP, who represents the plaintiffs. “There seems to be sufficient evidence that the way PG&E was maintaining equipment and sites played a substantial part in the fires.”

Wayne and Jennifer Harvell, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, allege that PG&E failed to properly maintain power lines, which fell over and came into contact with drought-dry vegetation that started the Tubbs fire and several others in the North Bay.

Robins said the lawsuit was filed so quickly to ensure that PG&E preserves all evidence concerning the fires. He added that his firm’s private investigations made it reasonably clear that transformers exploded and power lines went down in hazardous areas where the fire started.

In an emailed statement, Fiona Chan, a PG&E spokesperson said, “PG&E will comply with the [Public Utility] Commission’s request to preserve all data and documentation related to the fires. PG&E will support reviews by the appropriate regulatory agencies, which is standard practice for wildfire events.”

“We have not yet determined that any of the fires were started by any one specific cause,” said Cal Fire spokesperson Daniel Berlant. “While we may be speaking to certain companies, the cause has not been determined. At this point, it’s too early to speculate.”

The cause of the Northern California wildfires has drawn parallels to the Butte fire in Calaveras County in 2015. PG&E was found responsible for the fire that torched 71,000 acres for similarly failing to properly maintain vegetation around a power line that was knocked over by a pine tree.

“I think it’s a little too early to tell right now but based on their poor track record and in light of what happened in Calaveras County, where PG&E was found to be negligent for not maintaining infrastructure, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were found at fault,” said Britt Strottman, an attorney with Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson PLC, who represented several clients in the Calaveras County fire.

PG&E was also found responsible for violating pipeline safety regulations in the San Bruno pipeline explosion of 2010 that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. A federal jury convicted PG&E of obstruction and multiple safety violations, including failing to properly evaluate gas line threats and deliberately not classifying a gas line as high risk.

“They know that their biggest risk is wildfire so they have programs to mitigate and prevent them, such as vegetation management,” said Amanda Riddle, of Corey, Luzaich, de Ghetaldi Nastari & Riddle LLP who also was co-liaison counsel for Calaveras County residents in the Butte fire.

“The other parallel that I’m seeing is PG&E’s conscious disregard of public safety, their overall failure to manage risk and address what went wrong so they can learn,” she added.