Buffett’s Oregon Utility Says Fire Lawsuits Pose Shutdown Risk

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s PacifiCorp says ongoing litigation from massive wildfires in 2020 that exposed the company to billions of dollars in damages is jeopardizing its ability to continue providing power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Oregon.

In an emergency court filing Friday, the company said a Portland judge has set up an “impossible schedule” of 160 jury trials “week after week” over 2 1/2 years. The trials are for small groups of individual homeowners to seek millions of dollars in monetary damages for homes and businesses destroyed by the blazes four years ago, PacifiCorp said.

The unrelenting ...