"Fire victims have lost homes, belongings, and for some, even their loved ones," said LaMalfa (R-Richvale), who co-introduced the bipartisan legislation. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://abc7news.com/pg-e-fire-victims-victim-trust-fund-ca-wildfire-not-paid-taxpayer/11593929/, (7) Jamali, L. J. All such claims must still be filed on an individual basis. Wildfire victims do not lose their right to compensation because of the bankruptcy and should consult an attorney about preparing a claim. The Claims Resolution Procedures approved in PG&Es bankruptcy cases require the Trust to issue a single Determination Notice that includes all claims in each Claims Questionnaire. I have tried to work cooperatively with the Trustee while pressing for payments to be expedited with greater transparency and accountability, he said in the statement to this newspaper. While Gallagher has said that he isnt supportive of taxpayers picking up the bill on the shortfall, he wants to see his legislation passed exempting settlement payments from state income taxes, which he says is one of his highest priorities. On the surface, that has potential to be a good thing. He said the trust had begun to make partial payments to about 9,500 of the 67,170 victims. On November 15, 2022, the Trustee posted responses to fire survivors' questions submitted during a recent meeting hosted by Sonoma County Supervisors Susan Gorin and James Gore. This is different from a class action lawsuit. Unfortunately, bankruptcy law dictates we follow a highly regimented process governed by a multitude of regulations. The Trust issues Determination Notices daily and issues payments twice a month. "They have these enormous legal costs and theres not much to show for it.. They were just asking legitimate questions on behalf of their constituents. Claimants (or their lawyers, if represented) can access their confidential claims information, notices, and other program materials by logging into their secure Portal account here. KQED. All Rights Reserved. Read the lettershere. This increase was made possible by the Trusts recent sales of Pacific Gas & Electric stock. Fire Victim Trust to Increase Pro Rata Payments to California Fire Survivors From 45% to 60% Based on Recent Stock Sales. Https://Inthesetimes.Com/Article/California-Fire-Victims-Awaiting-Payment-from-Utility-Company Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://inthesetimes.com/article/california-fire-victims-awaiting-payment-from-utility-company, (11) Morris, J. M. (2021, August 23). endstream endobj startxref Read Rather, each wildfire claimant (or unsecured creditor) must file a separate claim in the bankruptcy court to safeguard their right to compensation. Landslide Debris Cancels ACE Train Service Through Niles Canyon, Water Agencies Seek Solution to Unhoused Residents Living in Creek Beds, Man Accused in Wife's Murder Made Shocking Google Searches in Days After Her Disappearance, Michigan Family Gets Life in Prison for Killing Family Dollar Guard Over Face Mask Dispute, SF Residents Give City Officials Earful About Increase in Crime, Decrease in Quality of Life, Rain Wednesday Will Add to Historic Wet Period in Bay Area. NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - An experiment in compensating disaster victims with corporate stock has not gone well. Nine of the 10 biggest conflagrations in California since 1932 have occurred in the past decade, and PG&E told regulators that its equipment may be linked to the giant, currently raging Dixie Fire, too. While you may submit a claim on your own, we highly recommend consulting an attorney before submitting a claim form and electing to represent yourself in a complex bankruptcy matter. Californian utility PG&E (PCG.N) last year earmarked around $6.8 billion of its equity for people who had experienced losses from wildfires it helped to cause. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Her office says it's currently in the Finance Committee. (2019, July 12). 15, 2022,the Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. San Francisco, CA Cathy Yanni, Trustee of the Fire Victim Trust (FVT), announced a pro rata payment increase from 45 percent to 60 percent effective January 31, "We remain right on the exact same spot with the identical house we replaced," said Internicola. Insurance Journal. He also said the trust hired Morgan Stanley to manage the sale of the first 100 shares of stocks, netting the trust $1.2 billion. Claimants with Submitted Claims Questionnaires (CQs), ,the "It was really disappointing that many members of Congress signed a letter asking for clarification and they took five months fooling around getting back to us," said LaMalfa. Your attorney will prepare the necessary information about your case and file a proof of claim on your behalf in the PG&E bankruptcy court. He said the fire victims had to push to get tax relief on the stock sale last year. (2020, December 19). California Court Gives Policyholders a Boost: Appellate Panel Publishes Pro-Policyholder COVID-19 Decision, Storm recovery: Find resources here as Santa Cruz County agencies, community groups scramble to coordinate, Meetings educate public on insurance, resources after floods. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Check out Bay Area safety tracker, Bay Area Life; Sundays at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7, Fire Victim Trust answers questions about $51 million spent as CA wildfire victims await payments. In November, Yanni told KQED she expected it would take two years to pay all victims with claims. Some fire survivors fear it will take much longer. The longer it takes, the higher the cost of overhead will be. Furthermore, Gov. I will continue to work with the Town, the County and the Trust to get results for fire victims.. Each and every claim must be substantiated and evaluated by the FVT in a comprehensive and methodical process carried out by an experienced team of professionals under the direction of court-appointed Trustee Justice John K. Trotter (ret.) And our family of five did much of the heavy lifting gathering, researching lost items costs, and spreadsheeting in detail our real and personal property claims which in most cases was to no avail, as the Trust ended up not paying over 40% of our bona fide claims. I am proud to introduce this bill alongside Rep. [Doug] LaMalfa to help our constituents receive the money they are owed, and will continue working to ensure survivors have the resources they need to recover from these tragedies.". Less than 1% of all claims have been appealed. 10/31/22 . And their fees are paid directly from PGE Fire Victim Trust funds designated primarily for the victims loss compensation from the PG&E settlement. Accordingly, it is important to understand the full scope of your legal damages, how to properly document your losses, how to complete the claim form process, and how to ensure a fair amount is allocated to your claim. Additional funding for fire victims is coming from a $592 million payment agreement from the PG&E trust, as well as money from selling 40 million shares in PG&E stocks representing around $480 million. (4), And the legions of lawyers and consultants from the Greenberg law firm in North Carolina (who Trustee Trotter hired) are surely making handsome consulting fees, though the Trustee keeps these fees close to his chest wonder why? The court-ordered trust of over $13 billion was established for survivors of devastating Northern California wildfires including the 2015 Butte Fire, the 2017 North Bay Fires and the 2018 Camp Fire. VIDEO: PG&E stock sale may mean more cash for California wildfire victims. As noted, Judge Montali is also an octogenarian at 81 years of age and was recently appointed again for another 14-year term as a U.S. bankruptcy judge in April of 2021, meaning hell be 95 when this term of service expires. Legislation could make PG&E settlement money for CA wildfire victims tax-free from the federal government, but the bill is stuck in Congress. Huge welcome back! 2023 United Policyholders The material on this site is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for legal advice. Victims of past fires share PG&Es risk, though, too. And these payments have been neither quickly nor fairly paid to victims contrary to Judge Montalis promise to victims. What's wrong with this picture? The number of claimants, variety of claims, quantity of claims, and size of the multi-billion dollar fund make this one of the largest and most complex mass tort settlements in California history. No class action has been certified in either the civil court or the bankruptcy court. Read the letters. "I think scheduling for committee time, floor time," said LaMalfa. San Francisco Chronicle. The victims approval of the bankruptcy deal ($13.5 half in cash and half in PG&E stock) which by itself was unprecedented, that is, that victims would have to take a stock from its defendant for half of their settlement. (14), The PGE Bankruptcy Court settlement, which Governor Newsom approved, favors and fully compensates everyone except the wildfire victims. After any disputes over the value of claims are resolved, the appropriate amount will be designated for the compensation of wildfire claims and placed into a trust as part of PG&Es Chapter 11 reorganization plan (or, financial restructuring). Congressman LaMalfa says the IRS took 5 months to get back to lawmakers about how fire victims who received PG&E settlement money should file their taxes so they wouldn't overpay or underpay and be facing penalties or fines. If a Disaster Declaration is issued, it can be either a Emergency Declaration (to supplement state, local, and tribal government efforts to provide debris removal and emergency protective measures or to lessen/avert, Need a last minute holiday gift? A. Any potential claimants who have not yet hired an attorney should be aware that the bankruptcy court will announce a bar date, after which time no further claims may be included in the proceeding or compensated. "I have heard from constituents across our community who are deeply, deeply concerned that they will face a tax burden upon receiving a payout from PG&E," Thompson said in a news release. PARADISE, Calif. - Victims from the Butte Fire, North Bay fires, and Camp Fire will receive an increased pro-rata payment from 30% to 45%. Newson, just approved two new rate hikes to PG&E customers (including all PG&E victim customers) totaling a 23% increase to rate payers effective March 2022. Any sale, disposition or other transaction involving the Trusts shares follow strict guidelines as outlined in filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Hedge Funds Cash Out Billions in PG&E Stock. "That's the one that probably disturbs me the most," said Internicola. San Francisco, CA Cathy Yanni, Trustee of the Fire Victim Trust (FVT), announced a pro rata payment increase from 45 percent to 60 percent effective January 31, 2023. According to claims data as of September 30th from the Fire Victim Trust, nearly half of the close to 70-thousand claimants are still waiting to receive a 45% partial payment from the trust. Newsom approved Montalis bankruptcy plan for PGE. The ability to make this increase is due to several recent developments, said John Trotter - the trustee the PG&E Fire Victim Trust - via a statement. If you suffered losses in the following or related fires, you may be entitled recover legal damages from PG&E: We invite North Bay and Butte County fire survivors to contact our office at any time to review your case and understand your legal options. Congressman LaMalfa says that gives them through the end of the year to get the legislation passed. Newsom arbitrarily approved their safety rating while they continue to start fires and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), also appointed by Gov. "Down to about two feet of rubble," said Internicola. Broadly, the process involves the following steps: With support from the Governors office and the California legislature, PG&E is expected to emerge from bankruptcy under a reorganization plan in secure (or investable) financial condition. A 15% increase was tacked on to the 30% pro-rata payments most claimants have already seen, meaning fire victims should have received 45% of their full approved claim. This includes filing and arguing motions before the court, negotiating with the debtor and other stakeholders for the fair compensation of claims, and opposing or supporting any reorganization plan that would permit PG&E to terminate bankruptcy. Because the Trust is a limited fund and bankruptcy laws, court order, and the Trust Documents require that eligible Fire Victims each receive an equal proportion of their awards, Fire Victims receive payments in pro rata installments commensurate with the total cash funding currently available to the Trust. the press release, the Trustee posted responses to fire survivors' questions submitted during a recent meeting hosted by Sonoma County Supervisors Susan Gorin and James Gore. On September 29th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill which will make PG &E wildfire victims' settlement payments state tax-free, but as of right now fire victims must still Indie Pop Star Michelle Lambert Plays Market and Main in Martinez! To download an extensive set of FAQs, click here. Sound rich to you? After Appeal (or any earlier point at which the Fire Victim accepts their determination), the determination becomes final, and the claims move into the payment process. To the supervisors' points, it is clear that the excruciatingly slow processing of claims that we victims have suffered through for years demonstrates that the deal that Judge Montali helped craft and approve, and his long-term colleague and fellow octogenarian, Trustee Trotter, is overseeing, and which Gov. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) made no adjustments to its yield-curve control (YCC) policy that keeps interest rates ultra-low on Wednesday. (1), The insurance companies and city and county governments also were paid in full over nine months ago for claims they paid to victims (subrogation reimbursements $11 billion and government claims of $2 billion, respectively), and the victims lawyers started reaping their full fees and costs as victims settlement determinations started trickling in nine months ago. opt-out claim, and issuance 90% of all Determination Notices. In a letter to fire victims in April, fund trustee John Trotter said it had retained Richmond, Virginia-based BrownGreer to process claims and that the firm has 300 staff members committed to this project, including attorneys, project managers, analysts, claim reviewers, and software developers.". We speak to claimants every day and know how hard this has been for everyone. Prior Trustee updates are included on the Documents page here. The House and Senate will be in session in mid-November. Scott McNutt, a former California State Bar governor and veteran bankruptcy attorney, told KQED the amounts charged are excessive for the meager results obtained so far and that the trust has been completely non-transparent about what its doing for this money., One of the hallmarks of the bankruptcy process is transparency, he said. And, again, our deal was crafted by these players such that victims would receive a $13.5 billion dollar settlement, but half of that amount (i.e., $6.75 billion) was to be paid to the victims in PG&E stock, only to find out that when PG&E exited bankruptcy the victims stock was already over $1.5 billion underwater. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Newsom correct the inequities in the PGE wildfire victims' settlement awards that are being adjudicated by the PGE Fire Victim Trust and fully compensate the victims of the 2015, 2017 and 2018 Northern California wildfires as required by California's "inverse condemnation" law which says "if you broke it, you fix it" (which applies to public utilities) and, more importantly, by doing what's morally right. And Gov. 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