US government may sue PacifiCorp, a Warren Buffett utility, for nearly $1B in wildfire costs
February 26, 2024
The U.S. government is threatening to sue PacifiCorp, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, to recover nearly $1 billion in costs related to the 2020 wildfires in southern Oregon and northern California, though the company is trying to negotiate a settlement.
The potential lawsuits were disclosed in an annual report filed by PacifiCorp’s Iowa-based parent company, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, on Monday — two days after Buffett lamented the disappointing results at the conglomerate’s utility division in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. This new liability comes after the utility already agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits related to the fires.
