Recovering clients' losses for 2017 Atlas PG&E Wildfires

2017 PG&E's Atlas Wildfire Lawsuit

Our team of attorneys have filed a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of victims of the Redwood Valley Fire, alleging that PG&E’s failure to update aging infrastructure and maintain trees near its power lines caused the destructive conflagrations. Specifically, the Redwood Valley Fire Lawsuit says that the Redwood Valley Fire and other fires were ignited when energized electrical distribution lines came in contact with nearby vegetation.

The fire lawsuits seek money in excess of what is already covered by insurance. We also assist our clients with home insurance & personal property inventories.

Questions? Find out why you should file a claim

Redwood Valley Fire survivors may have legal claims to compensation from PG&E for property losses, serious injuries, and other damages. Fill out the form to the right to explore your options and your claims with a trusted wildfire attorney today, free. Hablamos Español.

Did PG&E Cause the Redwood Valley Fire?

The Redwood Valley Fire lawsuit references a 2013 report from an independent consulting group hired to review PG&E’s operations and maintenance expenditures. The report identified several “significant safety issues.”

Among these safety concerns is PG&E’s alleged continued use of small, obsolete conductors in over 60% of its inventory, which are highly susceptible to failure and more sensitive to inclement weather conditions than standard size conductors.

According to the legal complaint, the 2013 report also noted PG&E’s use of reclosers, circuit breakers that automatically and remotely reenergize power lines when service interruptions occur. The lawsuit alleges that the use of reclosers increases fire danger when service interruptions occur as a result of a power line encountering trees or other vegetation – so much so, that Southern California utilities reprogramed their electrical systems during fire season to prevent reclosers from automatically restarting electrical currents.

The lawsuit further alleges that between 2006 and 2013, in an effort to redistribute costs, PG&E actually reduced the number of trees it worked to maintain at a regulatory distance from energized conductors, from 1.7 million to 1.25 million.

According to the lawsuit, yet another audit of PG&E’s systems and operations in 2015 revealed that there were over 3,500 unfilled repair and maintenance requests in the areas of the fires, and that over 50 pieces of equipment, including pole-mounted transformers and power lines, had not been inspected every year as required by law.

Find out if you have a claim.

Free consultation with a wildfire lawyer

707-562-0516

Local, Award-Winning PG&E Lawyers

We are an experienced Bay Area legal team that represents homeowners, renters and businesses affected by the 2017 Tubbs fires. Our attorneys have been appointed by California judges to serve in leadership roles in several large, coordinated fire and disaster cases, including in the 2017 PG&E Fire Cases, San Bruno Explosion and Butte Fire cases. Collectively we have more experience taking on PG&E than any other law firm in California

Find out if you have a claim to recover money from PG&E. For a free consultation with a PG&E Wildfire Attorney, fill out the form to the right or call 707-562-0516. Hablamos Español.

Our team of lawyers has been widely-recognized for the quality of our work and achievements:

  • Trial Lawyer of the Year, San Mateo Trial Lawyers Association (Mike Danko)
  • Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California, Daily Journal (Eric Gibbs)
  • Trial Lawyer of the Year, Finalist, Consumer Attorneys of California (Mike Danko)
  • Woman Advocate of the Year, Finalist, Consumer Attorneys of California (Amanda Riddle)
  • Consumer Protection MVP, Law360 (Eric Gibbs)
  • Top 50 Women Lawyers in Northern California (Kristine Meredith)
  • Consumer Attorney of the Year, Finalist, Consumer Attorneys of California (Eric Gibbs)
  • Top 100 Super Lawyers in Northern California (Mike Danko, Kristine Meredith, Eric Gibbs)

Why Bring a PG&E Fire Lawsuit

What a PG&E Wildfire Lawsuit May Provide

Background on the Redwood Valley Fire

The Redwood Valley Fire, also called the Mendocino Complex Fire, is one of over a dozen wildfires that burned throughout Northern California and specifically the North Bay during the month of October.

The blaze ignited in the early morning of October 9, 2017, just north of Highway 20 in Potter Valley and Redwood Valley, which divide the mountains of Mendocino County. The fire raced into the small community of Redwood Valley down two-lane Tomki Road. Mostly volunteer fire crews struggled to tame the conflagration amidst high winds and without sufficient equipment and resources.

Before it was fully contained on October 26, 2017, the Redwood Valley Fire destroyed over 36,000 acres of land in Mendocino County. Over 540 structures were completely consumed by flames, including all 18 houses on Fisher Lake Drive.

Official evacuation orders and other emergency warnings didn’t arrive to the roughly 1,800 members of the Redwood Valley community until an hour after the fire started, forcing many to run for their lives up hills and down ravines, abandoning cars and taking shelter in trees.

Nine residents were killed trying to escape.

Our PG&E and Wildfire Experience

✓No Other Firm Has More Experience Suing PG&E.
Our first case against PG&E was nearly 30 years ago. We know PG&E’s playbook and we use that unique knowledge to benefit our clients.

We have succeeded in trial against PG&E.
Our lead trial lawyer, Mike Danko, is the only lawyer in Northern California to have taken a case of this type all the way through to trial and verdict against PG&E. Since then, PG&E has offered settlements to our clients in many cases during or just before the start of trial. PG&E knows we are ready, willing and able to take a case to trial, and that approach helps us achieve the best results for our clients.

Appointed by judges to lead legal battles against PG&E.
We have been appointed by judges to leadership positions in large-scale cases against PG&E, including the 2017 North Bay Fires cases, the 2015 Butte Fire cases, and the 2010 San Bruno Explosion cases. Judges trust us to represent the best interests of fire & disaster victims.

Meet Our Attorneys

Amanda Riddle

Corey, Luzaich, de Ghetaldi & Riddle

Dario de Ghetaldi

Corey, Luzaich, de Ghetaldi & Riddle

Brad Bowen

Danko Meredith

Steve Lopez

Gibbs Law Group LLP

More About Our Team

Corey, Luzaich, de Ghetaldi & Riddle

Attorneys Dario de Ghetaldi and Amanda Riddle of Corey, Luzaich, de Ghetaldi & Riddle were co-liaison counsel for nearly 50 families in litigation against PG&E concerning the September 2010 explosion of a 30-inch natural gas transmission line in San Bruno. They currently represent over 200 families who are victims of the 2015 Butte Fire that devastated over 70,000 acres.

Danko Meredith

The attorneys of Danko Meredith have earned hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for their clients; Mike Danko serves as co-lead trial attorney on behalf of victims of the Butte Wildfire, and was recently honored as Trial Lawyer of the Year by San Mateo Trial Lawyers Association.

Girard Gibbs

Girard Gibbs’ attorneys bring more than two decades of experience representing clients in complex cases against utility companies, banks and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The Daily Journal named Girard Gibbs attorney Eric Gibbs to its prestigious list of “Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California” for 2016 and Law360 recognized Eric as a “2016 Consumer Protection MVP,” the only plaintiff-side lawyer in the country selected in that category.