PG&E Wildfire Bankruptcy: $13.5 Billion Settlement for Northern California Fire Victims

Starting in 2015 and continuing through 2018, a series of major wildfires across Northern California killed dozens of people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes, and displaced entire communities. State investigators and civil plaintiffs traced electrical equipment failures to Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The 2018 Camp Fire alone killed 85 people and wiped out the town of Paradise, making it the deadliest California wildfire on record.

James Frantz of Frantz Law Group took on approximately 5,000 of the victims as clients. The scale of harm across multiple fires and counties meant that attorneys from numerous firms had to coordinate their cases, particularly once PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2019 and the litigation shifted to federal bankruptcy court.

Frantz and other attorneys participated in a multi-firm steering structure to present the victim claims within the bankruptcy proceeding. By December 2019, PG&E announced it had reached a $13.5 billion settlement with wildfire claimants. That figure would be funded through a combination of cash and company stock, with the stock component subject to market conditions at the time of closing.

The settlement covered approximately 70,000 total wildfire victims, with the roughly 40,000 who were represented by counsel directing the vote on whether to accept the deal. The plan required two-thirds approval from balloting victims to move forward. Frantz said publicly that almost all of his clients supported the settlement. 'The goal of the litigation from the very beginning has been to change their behavior, and that is their lack of safety standards and the way they manage and maintain their equipment,' he told reporters.

The bankruptcy court confirmed the reorganization plan in June 2020. The $13.5 billion fire-victim settlement was the largest component of PG&E's overall bankruptcy resolution. No appeal reduced or reversed the settlement amount. Under the terms of the confirmed plan, victims received compensation funded through the reorganized company's emergence from bankruptcy.