Gerald Singleton

Gerald Singleton, managing partner at Singleton Schreiber, currently represents thousands of victims from numerous fires, including the Bobcat, Dixie, Fairview, McKinney, Mill, Mountain View, Mosquito, Silverado, Thomas, Woolsey and Zogg fires in California.

His work also spans multiple states, including representing clients in the Marshall Fire in Colorado, the Lahaina Fire in Hawaii and several fires in New Mexico and Oregon. Singleton’s commitment to his clients is driven by the significant impact of these fires on individuals’ lives, particularly in cases like the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon and Lahaina fires, where negligent actions led to devastating consequences.

“The Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire is one of the most frustrating cases I’ve ever been involved in,” he said. “Both fires (which soon merged into a single fire) were caused by prescribed (‘controlled’) burns that the U.S. Forest Service started and then lost containment over. To their immense credit, the President and Congress passed a bill appropriating $3.95 billion and setting up a compensation fund within six months of the fire. Incredibly, however, over 15 months later, almost no one has been paid. FEMA, which is in charge of distributing the funds, has fought to avoid paying the victims at every turn. We began submitting claims in January 2023, immediately after the claims office opened, but FEMA simply won’t pay them.”

As a result, Singleton has had to file a series of suits for declaratory relief in federal court, asking the judge to order FEMA to comply with the plain language of the law.

He said it’s one thing to have corporate defendants who refuse to pay; they can be taken to court and ordered to pay.

“Here, however, despite the best efforts of the President and Congress, incompetent, unelected bureaucrats are compounding the harm done to these victims,” Singleton said. “It’s sickening.”

Notably, Singleton also served on the Trust Oversight Committee for the $13.5 billion trust established for PG&E’s individual fire victims during its 2019 bankruptcy.

When asked about trends, he said with global warming expanding the fire season from two to three months to year-round, it is critical that utilities aggressively adopt proper safety practices.

“Investor-owned utilities (PG&E, Southern California Edison, etc.) failed to do so for over a decade, but have been forced to make changes over the past few years as a result of having to pay billions in settlements,” Singleton said. “However, there are a large number of smaller utilities (co-ops, municipalities, etc.) that are essentially ‘judgment proof’ and, therefore, are not susceptible to pressure from lawsuits. We have a number of cases right now where co-ops or smaller utilities that started major fires have few assets and grossly insufficient insurance. Given the danger caused by major fires, I think the states need to look into to increasing safety regulations and inspections for these companies and creating some type of backstop to compensate their victims if and when a fire occurs.”