We are elated to share the news that the significant verdict reached by a Portland jury in the 2020 Oregon fires case was selected by the Courtroom View Network as the first in its Top 10 list of most impressive plaintiff verdicts for 2023.
A jury in Portland, Oregon awarded approximately $84 million in compensation from PacifiCorp to nine survivors of the fires that swept across Oregon on Labor Day 2020. The verdict, which consisted of $6 million in economic and $56 million in non-economic damages, translates to an award of more than $84 million after the doubling of economic damages and the addition of punitive damages of 25% that are automatically applied given the jury’s verdict in the first Phase of the case. This verdict is the first trial exclusively on individuals’ damages after a historic class action verdict last year that established that PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, was liable to the entire class for causing the devastating fires. It is the second jury verdict awarding damages to injured class members, and maintains a trajectory which, according to PacifiCorp, represents more than $25 billion in total damages to the class.