Maui Fire Lawyers Eye Tactic That Got Californians $13.5 Billion

Hawaii property owners are seizing on a legal shortcut used by fire victims in California to secure compensation from Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. for damages following the fires that ravaged Maui.

The strategy, which doesn’t require proving negligence, helped push PG&E Corp., California’s largest utility, into bankruptcy and secured victims a $13.5 billion settlement in 2020.

Hawaiian Electric workers restore electric poles in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii on Aug. 16.

Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images

While Hawaiian Electric and some analysts have said this approach has never been tested in Hawaii’s courts, some property owners are already pursuing it. Shares of Hawaiian Electric plunged 58% last week, amid increasing investor concern that the utility could be ...