PG&E Urges Bankruptcy Court To Change Inverse Condemnation Rule

California utility giant PG&E Corp. asked the bankruptcy court to declare invalid the state’s legal doctrine that holds it responsible for fires caused by its equipment regardless of negligence.

The Oct. 25 request, which was joined by its creditors and shareholders’ groups, said applying the doctrine, known as “inverse condemnation,” to utilities is unconstitutional because it amounts to “an unlawful taking without just compensation.”

The filing at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California comes as the massive Kincade wildfire has raged across thousands of acres north of San Francisco shortly after a PG&E transmission line failed ...