Oregon Appeals Court Overturns PacifiCorp Wildfire Class Verdict

Overview

• An appellate panel reversed and sent the class-action back to trial court after finding a jury instruction wrongly told jurors to apply evidence from four separate 2020 fires to every class member.
• The ruling jeopardizes over $1 billion in damages awarded to a class that includes owners of more than 2,000 damaged parcels across distinct fire zones.
• Plaintiffs’ lead lawyer called the decision a procedural setback and said the court outlined paths such as correcting the instruction and trying the case again.
• PacifiCorp said the outcome supports its view that the class trial was unfair and added it remains open to resolving reasonable claims while contesting unsupported ones.
• More than 1,000 class members still have trials set for 2026 and 2027, and PacifiCorp has paid over $2 billion in related settlements and plans a $1.9 billion sale of Washington assets to Portland General Electric.