Marysville, CA October 24, 2018 – The Yuba County Board of Supervisors Tuesday authorized its attorneys to initiate litigation against PG&E as an important step towards recovery from the Cascade Fire, one in a set of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Yuba County joins Sonoma, Napa, Lake, and Mendocino counties, which previously authorized the national law firm of Baron & Budd and the California Fire Lawyers to represent them for the significant damages sustained as a result of the historic North Bay Fires.
CalFire identified PG&E equipment as the cause and origin of the devastating Cascade Fire, which caused damage to County property and resources.
The five counties suffered some of the greatest losses in California wildfire history. Yuba County alone is facing millions of dollars in costs related to emergency response, recovery efforts, infrastructure damages, injury to natural resources, loss of tax revenue, and other significant losses. The resulting litigation will not address losses to private property.
“This lawsuit is intended to seek compensation from those entities responsible for the fires; costs that should not be shouldered by Yuba County, which is still recovering from the devastation,” said County Counsel Courtney Abril. “Legal action is a necessary step to help restore our resilient community.”
Baron & Budd, P.C. is a national law firm, and part of the California Fire Lawyers consortium, which has a demonstrated track record in representing public entities in recovering from disasters. The fires have been vigorously litigated over the last year in the San Francisco Superior Court before Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow.