- PG&E (NYSE:PCG) suffers another legal setback in California as a judge says he will not release the company from a key legal claim related to last year's destructive wildfires in the state.
- PG&E has been challenging a California law allowing private property owners to hold the utility 100% responsible for any losses caused by its equipment or power lines even if it did not act negligently.
- “There is no basis for PG&E’s argument that imposing inverse condemnation liability” is unconstitutional unless the utility is guaranteed to “automatically recover” its costs through rate hikes, the Superior Court judge ruled today.
- Analysts have said PG&E could face more than $15B in claims from the fires, and Edison International (NYSE:EIX) also faces the prospect of multibillion-dollar payouts under the same law.