Compass Lexecon was retained by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to provide analysis and expert testimony related to the magnitude of losses suffered by individuals, businesses, and government entities resulting from the 2017 North Bay Wildfires. In December 2020, Compass Lexecon’s President Professor Daniel Fischel testified on behalf of PG&E in a regulatory hearing before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish that at least $7.5 billion of the settlement funds that PG&E paid in connection with its plan of reorganization for wildfire-related claims of individuals, businesses, and government entities was reasonably attributable to the 2017 North Bay wildfires.

Based on analysis of a wide variety of public data sources, Professor Fischel determined that substantially more than $7.5 billion in PG&E settlements are attributable to the 2017 North Bay wildfires. That analysis estimated losses relating to the value of destroyed and damaged residential and commercial buildings and their contents; alternative living expenses for individuals displaced from their homes; losses in business income and employee wages; and agricultural losses and other losses relating to fatalities; injuries; and emotional distress as well as government losses. In the spring of 2021, the CPUC issued a decision finding that PG&E had met this requirement. The CPUC’s decision favorably cited Professor Fischel’s testimony, noting that “we are persuaded that at least $7.5 billion of the wildfire claims costs paid as part of PG&E’s Reorganization Plan are attributable to the 2017 North Bay Wildfires.”

Professor Fischel was assisted in his analysis by a team in Compass Lexecon’s Chicago office that included Hal Sider, Alice Kaminski, and Otto Hansen. Compass Lexecon worked closely with attorneys at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP on this project.

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