NEW YORK: Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s PacifiCorp is facing a demand for US$30bil from victims of Oregon’s 2020 Labour Day wildfires, an escalation of a legal onslaught on the largest grid operator in the western United States.

While the amount sought in an amended complaint filed on Monday is about two-and-a-half times what the utility is worth, it’s also much bigger than the payout PacifiCorp might be expected to face based on claims resolved so far.

The growing liabilities for PacifiCorp prompted Berkshire chairman Warren Buffett to warn in his annual letter to investors that wildfires have turned utilities across the western United States into risky investments.

Utilities in California, Colorado, Hawaii and Texas have also faced billions in fire liabilities.

A jury already found PacifiCorp liable in 2023 for its role in the fires, but victims must undergo separate trials to determine individual damages.

The new filing in state court in Portland formally adds the names of 1,000 residents who are covered by a class action case over the destruction of about 2,500 properties in western Oregon.

Jurors so far have awarded 36 plaintiffs a total of about US$220mil - an average of US$6mil per person.

That’s far less than the US$30mil per person that victim lawyers sought in Monday’s filing, which asked for up to US$5mil to compensate for actual losses and as much as US$25mil for psychological trauma.

PacifiCorp, which is appealing last June’s verdict of gross negligence, previously lambasted the amount of damages sought by the plaintiffs.

“The idea that any of the numerous plaintiffs with minimal economic damages and no physical injuries are nevertheless entitled to US$25mil in non-economic damages is delusional,” PacifiCorp lawyers wrote in an October court filing.

Lawyers for plaintiffs declined to comment on Monday’s filing.

Berkshire said in a recent regulatory filing that it faced fire claims in Oregon and California of about US$8bil. That included demands from state and US government agencies totalling more than US$1bil for various firefighting and cleanup costs.

The utility was accused at last year’s trial of failing to heed weather warnings and shut off electricity in its service areas ahead of a wind storm that toppled power lines.

 - Bloomberg