Lead counsel chosen for upcoming North Bay fire trials

SAN FRANCISCO -- Attorneys packed the aisles of Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow's courtroom, forcing his clerk to bring out additional seating and point out fire escapes, as he confirmed lead counsel for the consolidated North Bay fire lawsuits this week.

Plaintiffs' attorneys anticipate there may be as many as 7,000 coordinated cases with tens of thousands of plaintiffs in Mendocino, Sonoma and Napa counties suing PG&E Co.

Although the cause of the blazes has not been determined by state agencies, the first trial could start as early as February 2019, possibly in San Francisco County.

Attorneys for the utility company asked Karnow to defer the issue of the trials' location, a request Karnow granted during the Tuesday hearing.

Michael A. Kelly of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schroenberger said plaintiffs' attorneys expect nine to 14 cases, which would be representative of four categories of complaints, to serve as bellwether trials. California North Bay Fire Cases, CJC-17-004955 (S.F. Co. Sup. Ct., filed Nov. 20, 2017).

"Both sides should be eager to keep these cases proceeding as efficiently as possible considering the time constraints on plaintiffs," said Karnow, a San Francisco County judge who is overseeing the proceedings.

The four categories of complaints are those brought by individuals, public entities, insurers and class action plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs' lawyers chose Kelly, Frank Pitre of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP and Bill Robins III of Robins Cloud LLP to represent them as lead counsel for the individual plaintiffs because of their experience in multi-district, mass tort litigation.

Pitre also was on the executive committee in statewide mass tort prosecution against PG&E Co. for its role in the 2015 Butte wildfire and currently represents plaintiffs in the Oakland Ghost Ship fire cases.

"We can formulate some methodology from the verdicts in tried cases to get some sort of benchmark for the rest of them," Pitre said.

Elizabeth Cabraser and Lexi Hazam of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP were chosen as lead counsel for the class action plaintiffs. Both specialize in multi-district, class action litigation.

One of the first to speak at the hearing, Cabraser said she plans to condense the five class actions into one master complaint to eliminate the need for multiple class certification hearings. She added that discovery for the class actions would not be different from discovery for the direct action cases, advising the judge to proceed with discovery.

"Core issues for each case and class certification will become clearer as evidence is presented," Cabraser said.

Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties have not yet filed lawsuits but plan to do so, according to lead public entities' attorney Scott Summy of Baron & Budd PC.

PG&E is represented by Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and Clarence Dyer & Cohen LLP. Kevin J. Orsini did the bulk of the talking for the defense Tuesday.

"It's most important we start with liability discovery as quickly as possible," Orsini said, adding that PG&E has accumulated a warehouse of potentially relevant evidence.

Plaintiffs' attorneys agreed that getting access to physical evidence is most important in moving the proceedings forward, but both sides acknowledged a large portion of the evidence would come from the Department of Forestry & Fire Protection, and the California Public Utilities Commission.

Commission spokesman Christopher Chow said the two agencies are working closely together to determine if PG&E complied with regulations. Both agencies are investigating the cause of the blazes.

"We cannot speculate on when the investigations will conclude," Chow said.

Fire protection department spokesman Scott McLean also said there is no timeline as to when its investigation will be complete.