Hi, Shrewd!        Login  
Shrewd'm.com 
A merry & shrewd investing community
Best Of BRK.ABest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd
Search
Shrewd'm.com Merry shrewd investors
Search
Best Of BRK.ABest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd


The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
Answer this questionContinue to Shrewd'mThis note won't appear again
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (5) |
Author: DTB   😊 😞
Number: of 21943 
Subject: Re: Billions in damages
Date: 03/07/24 10:50 AM
Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
No. of Recommendations: 2
From the Oregon NBC news report (Kezi News):

Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway estimates that its utilities face at least $8 billion in claims across all the wildfire lawsuits already filed in Oregon and California, although the damages could be doubled or even tripled in some of those cases and some of the lawsuits don’t list a dollar amount.
kezi.com - Pacificorp ordered to pay oregon wildfire victims another 42m final bill could reach billions

$8b plus is a lot of claims, although they won't all go against Berkshire and the final amount may be a lot less if their appeals are successful or it they come to an out of court settlement. From the same news report:

PacifiCorp, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is appealing. The utility said in an email Tuesday it has settled hundreds of claims relating to the fires and “remains committed to settling all reasonable claims for actual damages under Oregon law.”

Bad as it is, I think the more worrying aspect of this is that the regulatory environment seems to have changed in a very unfavourable way for Berkshire. If they end up paying out a few billion for the 2020 fires, that's not such a big deal for Berkshire, but if the environment is such that they no longer want to invest a lot of new capital in the utilities, that is a bigger problem, and it is not obvious to me how Berkshire can solve it.

Perhaps there is a technical fix, cutting off power more quickly when there is any hint of a problem - why wouldn't they do that, anyway? But I don't have enough understanding of the feasibility of switching off the power quickly nor the pros and cons of doing that to answer that question.

dtb

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
Print the post
Members reply directly to DTB here — and replies get answered. Reading is free; so is joining the conversation. Join Shrewd'm »
This community has written 21,448 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
BRK: Why Not XOM? · 62 recs · 2024
Second quarter comments · 60 recs · 2023
Berkshire's Profit Contributors · 57 recs · 2023
Summary of 2Q 2026 · 54 recs · 2026
3Q Summary · 53 recs · 2024
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (5) |


Announcements
Berkshire Hathaway FAQ
Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.

Best Of BRK.A | Best Of | Favourites & Replies | All Boards | Followed Shrewds | Open Questions | Moving a community