San Diego Fire Victim Lawyers

REASONS FOR JOINING AGAINST SDG&E

Burned down home of Darrell and Jacque Beck,
70-year Ramona residents who lost decades of
historical pieces to be donated to Ramona Museum

Common questions we have heard include: What could SDG&E have done to prevent the fires? Why go after SDG&E when I already have insurance? If I do join in the lawsuit against SDG&E, won’t the money just go to my insurance company? What am I entitled to from SDG&E that I cannot recover from my insurance company? Won’t my utility bills go up?

The simple truth is that wildfires today burn more acres than ever before and that wildfires in San Diego caused by power lines are among the worst and biggest fires. SDG&E knows this. And it knows — as anyone who lives in Southern California knows — that Santa Ana winds contribute to the risk of big fires. As a result, public utilities regulations specify equipment maintenance, inspection, and tree and brush trimming requirements. But SDG&E does not abide by these regulations. If you knew you had a fire hazard on your property in violation of fire safety rules, you knew that Santa Ana winds were forecast that made the danger imminent, you did nothing about the hazard, and a fire resulted, you would be responsible. Why shouldn’t SDG&E — with its revenues of over $200 million per year and 1 BILLION dollars of insurance — be responsible for its fault in causing wildfires that resulted in the destruction of over a thousand homes? And if people don’t stand up and hold SDG&E responsible, what chance is there of SDG&E following fire safety regulations to prevent this from happening again?

Most home and business owners are finding they did not have enough insurance to rebuild and replace their possessions. This is one reason for joining against SDG&E. Additionally, homeowners and business insurance does not cover emotional distress for trauma to those who were in direct danger and traumatized by the fire or for the sentimental value of lost family pictures, heirlooms, and other irreplaceable belongings. Recovery for these things is personal to the fire victims. Homeowners insurance and business insurance companies are only entitled to reimbursement for what they have paid out, not for these additional losses which they have not insured.

Utility companies cannot raise rates on their own. They have to apply to the Public Utilities Commission to increase rates. But even assuming the fires result in a rate hike, the cost of these rate hikes to fire victims over the course of their lives is not even close to the amount of fire victims’ property losses.