The U.S. government is threatening to sue PacifiCorp, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, to recover nearly $1 billion in costs related to the 2020 wildfires in southern Oregon and northern California, though the company is trying to negotiate a settlement.
The potential lawsuits were disclosed in an annual report filed by PacifiCorp’s Iowa-based parent company, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, on Monday — two days after Buffett lamented the disappointing results at the conglomerate’s utility division in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. This new liability comes after the utility already agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits related to the fires.
In its annual report, Berkshire Hathaway Energy said the U.S. Justice Department told the company it is seeking $625 million in firefighting and cleanup costs related to the September 2020 Archie Creek and Susan Creek fires. Oregon’s Justice Department said it is also seeking $109 million in damages related to those fires.
In addition to that, the U.S. Forest Service has asked PacfiCorp to pay $356 million for firefighting costs and damages related to the Slater Fire that started in California but also crossed over the border into Oregon.
Nationalize it.
It’s interesting when I see headlines start popping up identifying particular individual billionaires as the owners of companies that have done something bad. Usually it’s just the company itself that gets called out, since investors usually have little direct control over stuff like this.
We as society need to remember Billionaires are the same as Psychopaths. They have a whole that can’t get filled and they have a soul that won’t ever be at peace.
Slaps on the wrists like this won’t deter these evil assholes. Slapping them with a 50% of their income fine is what will. Like, you do it twice and you’re bankrupt, mother fucker.
Throw Buffett and the board into prison
Volcano, we can offer the rich back to the earth.
Do we truly think the board would have wanted the company to keep power on against the request of the govt/fire services?
Is there any proof of that, if so that’s very concerning and I’d agree
But I don’t see any evidence that the shareholders held some kind of vote and decided to continue on, or had some rule on the books about not complying with emergency services
Like sue the company for sure, it’s the fault of the company, but not necessarily the individual investors. They will inherently lose money if you sue the company anyway as their stock will depreciate and they should then exert pressure to make sure this kind of situation can’t happen in future
Wonder if that will double dip BH on their insurance/re-insure side?
