Berkshire's PacifiCorp ordered to pay at least $62 million to homeowners for 2020 Oregon wildfire damage

(Reuters) - An Oregon state jury on Tuesday ordered PacifiCorp, an Oregon electric utility owned by billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, to pay at least $62 million to nine homeowners whose properties were damaged by wildfires that devastated the state in 2020, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Jurors in Portland, where PacifiCorp is based, issued the award following a trial that started Jan. 9 in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The trial was the first of at least two scheduled this year to serve as test cases to determine how much PacifiCorp owes Oregon residents whose homes were ravaged by a series of fires that torched parts of the state over Labor Day weekend in 2020, causing nearly $1.9 billion in property damage and other harms, according to a state estimate.

The company could face billions in liability to compensate approximately 5,000 homeowners and business owners who filed a class action against the company in 2020, claiming that the fires damaged approximately 2,400 properties.

(Reporting by Clark Mindock, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Chizu Nomiyama)

By Clark Mindock