Lexi J. Hazam

One might say Hazam’s practice is on fire. That’s because she is co-lead counsel for thousands of people who were injured or whose homes and businesses burned in the massive wildfires in Southern California in 2017 and 2018. She also co-chairs the class action committee representing victims of the many wildfires across Northern California in 2017.

“I am doing other things, but [fire litigation] has heavily consumed my practice for the past two years,” she said.

All the lawsuits blame the fires on faulty or poorly maintained electric transmission lines and equipment. Hazam is excited about the progress that has been made toward settlement in the two sets of cases against Southern California Edison Co.

The parties achieved a significant milestone in the litigation over the Thomas fire and Mendocino mudslides late last year, just as the first bellwether cases neared trial, she said. They agreed on a resolution protocol that has aspects of a mass settlement but also allows individualized treatment of the roughly 2,000 claims. It calls for 150 claims to be resolved each month.

“It’s an innovative and strong protocol,” Hazam said. Southern California Fire Cases, JCCP4965 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 30, 2018).

The parties are largely following the same approach to resolve litigation from the Woolsey fire near Malibu in 2018. Woolsey Fire Cases, JCCP5000 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 4, 2019).

The earliest of her fire matters, however, appears likely to be the last to resolve because defendant Pacific Gas and Electric Co. filed for bankruptcy, overwhelmed by billions of dollars in potential liability from the slew of fires in October 2017 and other fires. Last year, victims were allowed to start filing claims with the bankruptcy trustee. In re: Pacific Gas and Electric Co., 19-30089 (U.S. Bankr. Ct., N.D. Cal., filed Jan. 29, 2019)

“It is a threshold moment, finally, for these plaintiffs,” she said.

— Don DeBenedictis