Southern California Edison has agreed to pay $360 million to dozens of public agencies affected by wildfires and mudslides in the last two years. The settlement closes 26 lawsuits involving 23 public entities filed against the utility.
Southern California Edison has agreed to pay $360 million to dozens of public agencies affected by wildfires and mudslides in the last two years, attorneys involved in the deal said Wednesday.
The settlement closes 26 lawsuits involving 23 public entities filed against the utility, including Los Angeles County, which will receive $78 million, said attorney John Fiske, whose firm represented the county and other agencies in the litigation. The public entities sued Southern California Edison over expenses and damage they incurred during and after the Thomas fire, the Montecito mudslide or the Woolsey fire. The settlement allocates $150 million for agencies affected by the Thomas fire and subsequent mudslide and $210 million for the Woolsey fire.
“This is the most comprehensive settlement for public entities in a wildfire case in California, probably ever,” said Fiske, a lawyer with Baron & Budd, who represented the plaintiffs along with co-counsel Dixon Diab & Chambers.Edison’s equipment sparked the Thomas fire, which killed two people and scorched the Montecito hills in Santa Barbara County that flowed through town during a rainstorm a month later, killing 21 more.
Some of the settlement money will be used to repay the California Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, attorneys said.
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