PORTLAND, Ore. — Multiple lawsuits filed by Willamette Valley vineyards and wineries against the parent company of electric utility Pacific Power will proceed in court after several recent rulings. Now, attorneys for the winemakers are looking to get other impacted businesses on board.
Elk Cove Vineyards, Willamette Valley Vineyards and Brigadoon Winery are just three of the winemakers to sue PacifiCorp individually. While the complaints were filed separately, they are substantively the same — alleging the PacifiCorp equipment started several of the devastating Labor Day weekend fires of 2020, and that the smoke from those fires damaged "grapes, grape harvest and wine sales."
Between the three winemakers, the complaints request just under $16 million in relief for damages.
In a statement, Pacific Power expressed confidence about the recent rulings in the winemaker cases, saying that they were successful in rebuffing some of the plaintiffs' arguments.
"Recent rulings in cases related to litigation brought by Oregon wineries were favorable to PacifiCorp, rejecting key pillars of Plaintiffs’ claims," the company said. "For example, in the Brigadoon case, the Court recognized that California-style inverse condemnation has no place in Oregon. Unsurprisingly, the Courts in other cases expressed significant doubts about the strength of Plaintiffs’ claims. Whether these cases are ultimately dismissed by a Court or rejected by a jury, the wineries’ smoke damage claims are baseless."
In each of the three complaints, the winemakers made an "inverse condemnation" claim, essentially arguing that PacifiCorp operates as a government entity by virtue of being a state-sanctioned utility, and it took property — by damaging or decreasing its value — in an unauthorized form of eminent domain.
Jim Bernau, owner of Willamette Valley Vineyards, said the fruit was just starting to ripen for the harvest when the wildfires burned through the Cascades. He said that smoke then blew down into the Willamette Valley, ruining the crops they were working so hard on.
"Some of the grapes took on that smoke as they were developing and so that made the fruit unusable," Bernau said. "We basically had to declassify that fruit. Instead of using our delicious red pinot noirs, we had to make rosé."
This resulted in a number of Oregon wineries and vineyards being severely financially impacted.
"We couldn’t harvest the fruit and so that meant you spent all year looking after the fruit, putting all your effort into growing the fruit and then you didn’t have a crop," Bernau said.
He said to prevent another disaster like this, it’s vital for the state to make sure utility companies have the resources to maintain transmission lines and protect them from severe weather conditions.
Bernau is optimistic that his industry will get the financial recovery they are seeking.
"Part of what we’re doing is making sure that we protect the reputation of the Oregon wine industry. We want to make sure that this never happens again," he said.
Having survived PacifiCorp's motions to dismiss the lawsuits outright, attorneys for the three winemakers plan to hold several town hall meetings where other vineyards and wineries can learn more about submitting potential claims for recovery from smoke damage losses.
Lawsuits stemming from the 2020 wildfires have already cost PacifiCorp substantial amounts of money. In June, a Multnomah County jury awarded $73 million to 17 homeowners who suffered losses from the fires, with awards for a broader class of about 2,500 still to be determined. The jury also ordered PacifiCorp to pay punitive damages in the case.
More recently, PacifiCorp agreed to settle two lawsuits out of Douglas County for a total of $549 million.
"PacifiCorp’s ability to provide essential services is being threatened by spurious lawsuits like these and excessive wildfire damages pursued by out of state plaintiff attorneys who have a substantial financial stake in these outcomes," Pacific Power said in its statement. "With respect to the settlement agreements in Douglas County, PacifiCorp has resolved and will continue to resolve all reasonable claims."
Town hall meetings for Willamette Valley vineyards and winemakers are scheduled for Jan. 23 and Feb. 28 at 12 p.m., both at the Atticus Hotel in McMinnville. The law firms representing the three winemakers who sued PacifiCorp are BakerHostetler and Watts Guerra, both of whom represented plaintiffs in the Douglas County cases, as well as Eugene attorney Greg Lusby of the Arnold Gallagher law firm.