PG&E Wildfire Lawsuit Lawyer

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When PG&E Equipment Started Another California Fire

Pacific Gas and Electric is the investor-owned utility that serves most of Northern and Central California. Its equipment has been linked to many of the deadliest fires in California history — the 2017 North Bay Fires, the 2018 Camp Fire, the 2019 Kincade Fire, and others. PG&E has gone through bankruptcy and has paid out tens of billions of dollars in wildfire settlements, and yet new ignitions tied to PG&E equipment continue to occur in California. The legal framework for cases against PG&E is well-developed — inverse condemnation, negligence, public utility code violations, vegetation management failures — and the path to recovery for survivors is more established than for almost any other defendant in California civil litigation.

A PG&E wildfire lawsuit lawyer is the person who builds the case for a survivor of a PG&E-linked fire and coordinates it with the broader litigation that typically forms around any major Northern or Central California fire. KBK Lawyers handles PG&E wildfire matters as part of our natural disaster practice.

The Framework Against PG&E

California law gives wildfire survivors multiple theories against an investor-owned utility:

  • Inverse condemnation — strict liability for property damage caused by utility equipment
  • Negligence in equipment maintenance, design, and operation
  • Strict liability under the public utility code and PUC General Order 95
  • Negligence per se for specific regulatory violations
  • Negligent vegetation management
  • Failure to de-energize lines during high fire-weather conditions (PSPS failures)
  • Public nuisance and trespass

A PG&E wildfire lawsuit lawyer pleads every available theory.

PG&E's History and What It Means for Survivors

PG&E’s settlement track record matters because it tells survivors what to expect. The Fire Victim Trust established through the bankruptcy has paid billions to fire survivors from earlier fires. New fires produce new mass litigation, typically resolved through coordinated multidistrict litigation in Northern California with bellwether trials driving valuations. A PG&E wildfire lawsuit lawyer who has been through this framework knows how to position a case for the most favorable position in any future settlement.

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Why KBK Lawyers

Brian Kabateck has decades of experience representing Californians against large utility, corporate, and institutional defendants. He is a past President of Consumer Attorneys of California and a past President of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. Shant Karnikian leads our wildfire and policyholder rights work.
A PG&E wildfire lawsuit lawyer at our firm coordinates the utility case with the parallel insurance bad-faith case that almost every fire survivor also has.

Areas We Cover

PG&E’s service territory includes most of Northern and Central California. Our firm represents survivors of PG&E-linked fires across the territory, including the Sierra foothills, the North Bay, the Central Coast, the Central Valley, and the broader Bay Area outside the San Francisco municipal utility footprint.

Damages You Can Recover

  • Total loss of the home above your insurance limits
  • Contents at full replacement value
  • Evacuation, hotel, and food costs during displacement
  • Smoke, ash, and contamination damage
  • Code-upgrade coverage and rebuild cost overruns
  • Loss of rental income and business interruption
  • Landscaping, fencing, hardscape, trees
  • Emotional distress and trauma damages
  • Punitive damages where PG&E’s conduct was reckless

Deadlines

California’s general personal injury limitation is two years. PG&E is investor-owned and subject to standard private-defendant deadlines, not the six-month public-entity rule. Insurance policies have their own contractual deadlines. A PG&E wildfire lawsuit lawyer at our firm maps every deadline at the first call.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cases for fires that occurred before the bankruptcy are handled through the Fire Victim Trust established as part of the bankruptcy proceeding. Cases for fires after the bankruptcy proceed through normal civil litigation. A PG&E wildfire lawsuit lawyer can identify the right framework for your fire.

Cases for fires post-bankruptcy are not capped by the bankruptcy and proceed through normal civil litigation. Pre-bankruptcy cases are processed through the Fire Victim Trust, which has its own claim and valuation procedures.

Mass PG&E wildfire matters typically coordinate in California Superior Court in San Francisco or Sacramento, or in federal court depending on the procedural posture. Our firm handles cases regardless of the venue.